HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Department of Computer Science Seminar
2009 Series

A Computer-Based Learning Approach to Development and Evaluation of Healthcare Students’ and Practitioners’ Clinical Competencies

Prof. Jayshiro Tashiro
Health Education Technology Research Unit
University of Ontario Insitute of Technology

Date: October 13, 2009 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Venue: SCT909, Cha Chi Ming Science Tower, Ho Sin Hang Campus

Abstract
The focus of the presentation will be an analysis of how to build computer-based simulation environments that would allow an authentic measurement of complex interprofessional clinical competencies. Our recent work has led to two interesting problem areas:

1. How do you create a research methodology for developing an Interprofessional Core Competency Framework for Canadian healthcare students and practitioners?
2. How could you develop and evaluate a computer-based adaptive learning system nested within an automated research platform that would allow for the study of clinical competency development?

In this presentation, we will examine these two problem areas by reviewing the research on health informatics and clinical simulations that began at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and is now being implemented at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. Our research program has been exploring Model Driven Software Engineering and how this conceptual framework can be operationalized in computer-based clinical simulations that could improve the interprofessional clinical competencies of undergraduate Health Sciences students as well as practicing healthcare providers. Over the past two years, the Health Education Technology Research Unit at UOIT has developed and evaluated an evidence-based learning framework for improving the education and interprofessional competency development of healthcare students and practitioners. We are now translating this framework into practical methods and materials for evidence-based learning. The Interprofessional Core Competencies Framework and the computer-based adaptive learning system discussed in this presentation are examples of how we empirically derive educational methods and instructional materials to improve learning and competency development.

Biography
Dr. Tashiro is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). He is also the CEO of Wolfsong Informatics, a software company in Tucson, Arizona, as well as a Principal in a research and development company, BEACONWALL, which was recently established in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. Tashiro’s research focuses on telehealth and disease management as well as on the relationships between evidence-based learning and evidence-based practice in healthcare. At UOIT, he helped develop and now teaches in the Health Information Management Program, currently building and evaluating courses that promote interprofessional collaborative patient-centred care. Tashiro also helped establish and is now the Co-Director of the Health Education Technology Research Unit at UOIT.

Tashiro received his BA from Kenyon College (Gambier, OH, USA) in 1973, his Ph.D. in Biology from Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY, USA) in 1980, and his BSN from Northern Arizona University in 1999 (Flagstaff, AZ, USA; now a licensed Registered Nurse in Arizona). His doctoral work focused on Physiological Ecology with an emphasis on biostatistics. Since 1987, his work has explored health informatics, telehealth system development, and methods for assessing complex clinical competencies. In October 1998, Tashiro and Dr. Ellen Sullins formed Wolfsong Informatics, a research and development group dedicated to building and evaluating educational software. Tashiro has been continuously funded for research and program development since 1989, with total funding from 1990-2006 of $15 million USD.

Since 2006, Dr. Tashiro has worked with Dr. Patrick Hung and an international research and development team to study how and why to build new models of health information management and more sophisticated telehealth and wellness education systems that might better serve aging populations. This team has implemented a variety of research projects, including: (1) clinical workflow data collection and management applications, (2) computer-based wellness education systems to improve the health of elders, (3) adaptive learning systems for measuring conceptual and performance competencies in clinical practice, and (4) a telehealth system that combines the monitoring capacities of current systems with new types of sensor arrays that are built around smart-house technologies. In 2009, Dr. Hung and Tashiro formed the research and development company, BEACONWALL, to extend these research activities and form broader research collaborations in Hong Kong. Since 2006, Hung and Tashiro have been funded with over $2 million for research activities related to critical areas of healthcare planning and delivery.

********* ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME ***********
(For enquiry, please contact Computer Science Department at 3411 2385)

http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/v1/?page=seminars&id=111