Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2013

Cedarville Magazine | 23 Supporting the HSC Was an Easy Decision Cedarville’s vision for its pharmacy program is spot on, and that excites me. The University understands the need for a relationship between nurses and pharmacists, and it understands the way technology is rapidly changing the way health care is being delivered today. Both of these realities are built into the newHealth Sciences Center. Technology is playing a huge role in streamlining health information, improving communication between all health care disciplines, and encouraging more interdisciplinary approaches to patient care. For example, I worked with an ER doctor who developed a software program that uses data from the provider databases and the Ohio Board of Pharmacy. It calculates a score that will help doctors, nurses, and pharmacists identify and respond to patients who are potentially abusing prescription medications. The days of doing patient assessments on paper are behind us, and familiarity with the electronic medical records (EMR) hospitals and physicians’ offices use is a huge advantage. The Health Sciences Center has a fully equipped teaching clinic so nursing and pharmacy students can practice working with EMRs, just like they’ll be doing in the field. This will translate to a higher comfort level for students when they begin doing rounds in clinical settings. The field needs individuals who understand what the technology can do and can tell programmers, “If I had this , I could do my job better.”The end users —nurses and pharmacists —will be a factor in shaping the future of health care technology. My wife was in the first class to graduate from Cedarville’s nursing program. I earned my business degree at Cedarville and also work in the health care field. Supporting the Health Sciences Center financially was an easy decision for us. We understood the need and the impact this building would have, and we wanted to give a little bit back. As the health care landscape changes, this building will make a real difference for students, one they may not fully appreciate until they’re out working in the field. Marty Larson ’89 Executive Director, Greater Dayton Area Health Information Network Advancing Cedarville