(Sarasota, FL December 23, 2003) - USF Sarasota-Manatee will receive a $700,000 grant to boost technology courses for nurses, officials announced Tuesday, a move that could save lives and reduce medical malpractice claims.

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris was able to secure the dollars in the omnibus United States budget this year. It passed the House last month and is expected to pass the Senate in January, with the program starting at USF this spring. She anticipates continued funding over the next three years to total more than $3 million. “These federal dollars will ignite a program that places USF Sarasota-Manatee in the national forefront of high-tech education for nurses,” Harris said.

Harris joined USF Sarasota-Manatee CEO Laurey Stryker and Campus Board member Bob Soran Tuesday on a tour of Sarasota Memorial Hospital facilities, hosted by Dr. G. Duncan Finlay, hospital CEO and led by Jan Mauck, Vice President and chief nursing officer of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, and Donna Jackson, a national authority on Informatics. The hospital was chosen because it is a national leader in adopting Informatics, the paperless approach to tracking patient information.

Stryker emphasized the campus’ role in the community, saying, “This fits perfectly into our role of providing the best education for the very professions that are most needed in our community. Receiving a national grant updates our curriculum, elevates our national reputation in the important health care arena, improves patient safety and lures additional nurses to our campus.” She also stated that it fits into the area’s economic development plans. “By becoming a test site for Informatics, the area becomes attractive to this developing industry,” said Stryker, who is also Chairman of Sarasota County’s Committee on Economic Development.

The technology, using computers to communicate accurate information, is widely used in other industries, but is a new wave for the medical profession. In a traditional hospital setting, patients answer the same questions over and over, doctors and nurses hunt for information from charts, and hospital pharmacists struggle with illegible requests from doctors costing consumers and insurance companies money in claims every year.

With Informatics, which is the use of electronic patient records to improve care, laptop computers are used to help nurses and doctors keep track of patients’ vital information from admissions to release from the hospital. The electronic patient record promotes patient safety with rules and alerts built right in. Remote access allows doctors to check on tests from wherever they are: home or office. The technology shortens hospital stays and saves money.

The training allows nurses to spend less time on paperwork and more time on patient care, which is why many nurses entered the field. The Informatics technology helps reduce burnout and stress in the nursing profession and is seen as a national movement in the health care industry.

With the new grant, campus leaders will open a new center on campus for Informatics training that will include hiring new faculty for classroom teaching, online learning, and technical training. The center will focus on research, improved nursing care practice, and collaboration with the health care industry in Sarasota and Manatee counties and the nation.