The University of Pittsburgh's DPT program simplified the collection, review and approval of student's required compliance documents with Exxat APPROVE.

Introduction

For the University of Pittsburgh PT program, student approvals were a nightmare. They were struggling with frequent rejections, complaints from students, and low response rates from their existing technology provider.

“APPROVE made the complicated process of organizing, gathering, and improving the clinical requirements manageable and efficient.”

- Dr. Lynn Fitzgerald, PT, DPT, MED
Director of Clinical Education, University of Pittsburgh Doctor of Physical Therapy Program

Dr. Lynn Fitzgerald, Director of Clinical Education, was already using Exxat STEPS(now part of Exxat Prism). However, using a different provider for approvals meant double the work for her as well as the students. Additionally, the students were required to go through Student Health Services to get their approvals done. The Student Health Services did not always have the resources to turn around student documents quickly and efficiently

Here is how the University of Pittsburgh went about solving the issues they were facing:

1. Finding the right technology partner

Dr. Fitzgerald was already using Exxat STEPS(now part of Exxat Prism) for three years. So, when Exxat announced the launch of Exxat APPROVE, she knew a whole host of problems would be taken care of. Some of the things she considered before selecting a technology partner were:

• Ensuring that the turnaround time for questions/issues is low

• Desiring clear communication at all times.

• Needing a system that is modern and easy to understand, not clunky

Moving to Exxat for document review meant that Dr. Fitzgerald could use Exxat from start to finish. APPROVE replaced the manual workload of the University of Pittsburgh Student Health Services and made the approval process faster. Moreover, both Dr. Fitzgerald and her students received the answers to their questions on time and didn’t have to learn a new system.

2. Working closely with all stakeholders.

When Dr. Fitzgerald implemented Exxat APPROVE, she made sure that she set up a process in place to work closely with the students, her team, and Exxat. She scheduled webinars for herself and her team, and weekly meetings with Exxat team to ensure everything is going smoothly.

3. Revisiting the approval process each year

This is something Dr. Fitzgerald strongly recommends. “Relooking at the setup each year forces us to look at the requirements and rewrite them, update them, or make them easier for each cohort”, says Dr. Fitzgerald. This way, the students face fewer challenges each year and changes do not go unnoticed.

About APPROVE

Launched in 2017, APPROVE by Exxat is a compliance management system for educators that tracks, manages, reviews and approves student documents and immunization records for educational programs in the Allied Health Sciences. APPROVE constantly monitors student documents for expirations and updates, reviews them based on the school’s guidelines, regularly reminds students to stay on top of their clinical requirements and offers full control to the school on the final decision regarding the document.

Conclusion

Clinical approvals is an ongoing process. It is something you will have to manage each year with a different cohort, but having the Exxat APPROVE team to review and approve student health documents, saves hours of work and streamlines a manually cumbersome process.

Exxat Prism

Exxat Prism is an all-in-one Education Management Platform for Health Science Programs. It streamlines Clinical Education, Curriculum Management, Document Compliance, and Contract Tracking & Sharing.

Prism manages it all from placement availability, site details and accreditation reports to required documents, patient logs, curriculum mapping, and evaluations. Our integrated database helps you to seamlessly collect and manage everything through just a few clicks.

You can learn more about Prism and request a demo at https://exxat.com/solutions/prism/