University of San Diego

Hahn School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Health Care Informatics Program
Capstone Project

Capstone Project Description

The Capstone Project represents one of the most significant elements of the Health
Care Informatics (HCI) curriculum. The project integrates all facets of the learning
experience and provides the student an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to
apply the tools and knowledge acquired during the program to an actual problem
encountered in the health care environment. The Capstone project is proposed by
the Student and is conducted in collaboration with an agency or may be an
independent project/proposal. The HCI student will meet with an assigned faculty
mentor/advisor who will guide the student in the topic section and construction of
the proposal. The student is free to focus on an area of career interest or a specific
project identified during a residency experience.

Goals of Capstone Project Demonstrate knowledge of health care informatics,

project management, leadership, skills and abilities associated with the Health Care
Informatics foundation courses.

1. Problem-solving: Demonstrate the ability to apply problem-solving processes,

technologies, systems approaches, and innovative thinking to solve problems and
create solutions. Apply qualitative and/or quantitative analysis to the decision-
making processes.

2. Communication: Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively and

specifically demonstrate an ability to design, write, and produce a professional
project proposal document including final analysis presentation. The project can be
either proposed or completed but each student completes the capstone
culmination paper and presentation regardless.

3. Program competencies: Integration of program competencies into the capstone

project and experience by documenting how the capstone has met those defined
areas.

4. Self-Management: Demonstrate the ability to work independently, creatively,

meet deadlines, and operate interdependently with agency colleagues and the
faculty mentor/advisor using appropriate assertiveness.
Identification of a Topic
Capstone project topics must be selected and agreed upon with faculty advisor at the start of
the 2nd year of the program. Topics are formally approved by the supervising faculty
mentor/advisor and must be submitted to the faculty member using the approved form with
an APA formatted project proposal. At the conclusion of the project, the student completes a
formal analysis of the project with a culmination paper and presentation to a selected group of
faculty members, agency stakeholders, and students (Research Capstone day)
 University of San Diego
Hahn School of Nursing and Health Sciences
Health Care Informatics Program
Capstone Project Approval Form

Student Name: Leslie Martinez Expected Graduation Date: May 2023

Faculty Project Advisor: Dr. Klimpel

Agency member (if applicable): Rady Children’s Hospital, Emergency Department

Agency member or domain expert:

Project Title: Implementing real time unit maps in the Emergency Department to
improve patient turnover time and facilitate patient flow.

Project Proposal: attach an APA formatted proposal to this form. The signed
approval form with proposal is attached as first page of your formal plan. The
proposal is a formal written APA formatted document that represents graduate level
writing skills and represents significant scholarly activity

Formal written Project Proposal must include the following:

1. APA formatted, printed document
2. Introduction (very brief overview of what you proposing to do and why you
are doing it.)
3. Statement of problem or question you have identified and brief summary of
current situation
4. Proposed PICOT question
5. Deliverables (what you will actually have once you have completed your
project, e.g., a database, a website, software deployment, or a program, etc.)
6. APA formatted reference page.

DO NOT WRITE THE DESCRIPTION HERE. ATTACH PRINTED PROJECT PROPOSAL

DOCUMENT
Approvals/Signatures:

Student: Leslie Martinez Date: 3/5/2023

Faculty advisor:Dr. Kathy Klimpel Date: 3/5/2023
 Implementing Real Time Unit Maps in the Emergency Department to Improve
Patient Turnover Time and Facilitate Patient Flow.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created profound, long-lasting implications on

patient outcomes, efficiency of resources and technological advancements. Even after

three years, the United States health care system is still working to recover from the

unprecedented pandemic that altered the way clinicians provide care to patients. Busy

waiting rooms and unclear knowledge of patient room capacity have greatly affected the

efficiency of healthcare providers as well as placed the patient’s safety in jeopardy.

Timely care and knowledge of resources are key factors every patient entering the

emergency department requires. In fact, “studies indicated that in contrast to traditional

care, MAP Units were associated with decreased in-patient mortality over five (5) years

for acute medical admissions, reduced length of stay (LOS) on average by one day and

decreased waiting times for patient transfer from ED” (Medical Assessment, 2013).As a

solution, the Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, Emergency Department has

collaborated with clinical informaticists to implement real time unit maps to improve

patient turnover time and facilitate patient flow.

Collaboration amongst informaticists and medical practitioners is necessary to

create a functional ecosystem where every user knows the resources accessible to

them. Resources are meant to support and not hinder nor get in the way of the

procedures in place. By intentionally crafting resources that are tailored to the staff’s

needs we can create a productive wellness model that addresses the patient’s timely

needs and caters to the medical providers workflow. As informaticists it is crucial to

communicate design plans, implementation strategies and timelines to clinical providers

whose everyday tasks will be affected.

During my practicum at Rady Children’s Hospital, Emergency Department, I had

the privilege of implementing unit maps for the emergency department which provided

rapid physician assessment, decreased patient turnover time, and facilitated patient flow.

The unit maps were displayed in different zones of the emergency department to provide
a snapshot of the patient’s status, room availability, and showcased the layout of the

rooms in the emergency department. All monitors were interconnected with one another

to show real time edits and notes written by others on the same department. Staff and

medical providers could write on the touch screen monitor, rearrange the unit map view,

and add virtual sticky notes. Medical professionals were most interested in using the

boards as a quick snapshot of patient status and demographic information that did not

go against the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations.

Meanwhile, facilities management used the unit maps to track clean, used and dirty

rooms.
 References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, June 17). Covid-19 and chronic
disease: The impact now and in the future. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from
https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2021/21_0086.htm
Improving patient flow and reducing emergency department crowding. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 10, 2023, from
https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/publications/files/ptflowguide.pdf
Medical Assessment and Planning Unit (MAP unit) reference paper. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 7, 2023, from
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/430597/mapunits.pdf