Sonography Education:

Taming the Paper Tiger with the Trajecsys Report System™

SDMS has now joined with the Trajecsys Corporation to offer sonography schools a comprehensive, but simple to use, service that will assist them in delivering the highest quality sonography education to their students, and help them meet the JRC-DMS/CAAHEP standards for initial accreditation, annual reporting, and re-accreditation. Using the latest cutting-edge Internet technology, the Trajecsys Report System™ easily connects the program director, clinical instructors, and sonography students through a fully integrated, online clinical management system. Now, when a sonography educator contacts the SDMS headquarters with questions about how they can replace their existing clinical assessment and tracking system or how their school can become better prepared to pursue accreditation, the SDMS refers them to Trajecsys for assistance.

Support for sonography education is a critical component of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) strategic plan. Specifically, the SDMS strategic plan includes a goal of increasing the number of accredited sonography educational programs. SDMS members often contact the SDMS headquarters about how SDMS can help an educational program meet the accreditation standards and requirements of the Joint Review Committee on Diagnostic Medical Sonography (JRC-DMS) and Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs’ (CAAHEP). These standards and requirements include maintaining student records in sufficient detail to document learning progress and achievements, number and type of clinical procedures, exam findings, extent of student supervision, and level of involvement of student in scanning, etc.

Buried in Paperwork?

Traditional, paper-based clinical assessment and tracking systems can generate a blizzard of paperwork, especially if clinical sites are spread over a broad geographic area. Paper-based systems can keep a program director buried in paperwork with few tangible benefits. And, while some paper-based clinical assessment and tracking systems have done little more than convert their paper forms to an online format, the Trajecsys Report System™ was designed from the ground up to collect, process, and report the information that program directors need to manage their program effectively. The system also provides the information that educators need to give their students timely feedback and guidance by instantly allowing educators to examine how each student is progressing in their didactic and clinical experience. Educators no longer have to wait days or weeks for written reports to be submitted nor have to spend hours compiling reports for school administrators or to meet registry and accreditation requirements.

Designed by Educators for Educators

Trajecsys Corporation was founded in 2005 by two allied health educators, CEO Mark Wallenmeyer, MBA and President Larry Pickett, MA. It features an online clinical management and tracking system for students of various health-related educational programs, including sonography. The system was developed with input from sonography program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Health Related Professions and other programs around the country. Today, the Trajecsys Report System™ is being used by more than 1,000 (and still growing) clinical sites throughout the United States.

Mark Wallenmeyer, Trajecsys CEO says, “Trajecsys is very excited about working with SDMS. We are proud that we are able to provide a service that will enhance the quality of diagnostic medical sonography programs. We look forward to the relationship that we have built with SDMS and are continuing to build within the sonography community.”

Affordable for Both Schools and Students

The Trajecsys Report System™ saves the sonography educational program time and money by not only reducing paperwork but also often eliminating existing clinical manuals, log sheets, etc. A unique feature of the Trajecsys Report System™ is that the system is offered at no charge to sonography schools. There is even a trial period (up to one semester), where students can use the system for free to aid the school in implementing the Trajecsys Report System™. Typically, fees to use the system are paid directly by the student (online or via check/money order). However, Trajecsys can also work with the school’s bookstore to simplify the payment of the student fees as a book/lab fee or to bill the program directly. The cost to the student to use the Trajecsys Report System™ is based on the length of the sonography program:

• Less than 3 months: $50 per student
• 3 to 6 months: $75 per student
• 6 to 12 months: $100 per student
• Greater than 12 months: $150 per student

Customization and Flexibility

According to Tony Baker, RDMS, RVT, the Sonography Program Director at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Health Related Professions, "We really like the system and the folks that run it; they are great to work with and will do everything they can to tailor the product to fit your needs." A sonography program can continue to use the same assessment tools and procedures that they have invested time in creating or look to the expertise of Trajecsys to assist in designing new online forms and procedures. Although the Trajecsys Report System™ cannot exactly duplicate the paper-based format, it is surprising how similar the online format can be…but it is often better, easier to use, and more convenient than paper. Typically, the program’s existing scoring criteria can be integrated into the Trajecsys Report System™ to further aid in the rapid implementation and user acceptance of the system.

Trajecsys will set up the online system for each sonography program...at no charge. Then, Trajecsys will work with the program director, clinical instructors, and students to customize the Trajecsys Report System™ to meet the school’s specific needs. And, because the Trajecsys Report System™ is also available for a variety of other allied health programs, it is easy for an entire college or university to adopt and customize the system for each of its allied health programs without having to sacrifice the needs of any one program.

Eliminate GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

Both paper and electronic systems can suffer if not properly designed – the old adage of “Garbage in, Garbage out” still applies today. Program directors define and control exactly what information is collected in the Trajecsys Report System™, and then authorized users can use the pre-built reports or create custom reports from any of the evaluations or exams. Reports can be filtered by student, by date, by subject, by evaluator, by class or by custom criteria. Reports are formatted and available online, or can be exported to a spreadsheet. With the Trajecsys Report System™, the user can choose how to view or store the data. Here are just a few of the many Trajecsys Report System™ pre-built reports:

• Time records Reports - See how much time each of your students has spent at clinical sites.
• Skill Reports - Summarized reports of activities such as number and type procedures performed and the level (observed, participated, performed) at which they were completed. The report also shows the level performed versus overall class performance for each.
• Competency Reports - Summarized views of students, overall averages of competency scores, averages per competency item, and more.
• Employee Hours Report - Total number of individual employee hours spent supervising students.
• Pathology Reports - Students can report pathology for any procedure, and summaries for pathologies encountered by each student are available.
• Evaluation Reports - Your own student, site, clinical instructor or faculty evaluations, completed by any user group. Or create your own evaluations - student self-evaluations, course evaluations - no charge for creation and unlimited polling with no additional fees.

Compliance and Data Security

The Trajecsys Report System™ is designed to ensure students and clinical instructors comply with each educational program’s compliance and security requirements. The built-in security features of the Trajecsys Report System™ can also help educational programs comply with federal requirements, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, while remaining a flexible, easy to use system.

The Trajecsys Report System™ features fully encrypted pages with secure socket layer certification and the data is protected in a secure data-center with security patrols, keycard access, biometric hand and fingerprint identification, third party alarm monitoring and video recording of data center activity. Program directors can also easily backup data locally to hard disk, CD, or DVD to meet a school’s record retention policy requirements.

SDMS and Trajecsys: Helping Meet the Challenges

SDMS is pleased to be working with Trajecsys to provide sonography educational programs with this fresh, comprehensive tool to simplify and eliminate much of the paperwork that often overwhelms sonography educators. The Trajecsys Report System™ is a complete, cost-effective solution – one that can be customized to meet each sonography educational program’s current and future needs. Contact Trajecsys today to learn how they can help you get back to doing what you really love…teaching!

Do’s and Don’ts

for Selecting a Sonography Clinical Assessment and Tracking System

DO Do participate in an upcoming SDMS/Trajecsys Webinar (or schedule a private demonstration) to learn more Do view the online demonstration videos Do talk to your sonography (and other allied health) colleagues about their positive experiences with the Trajecsys Report System™ Do select Trajecsys Report System™ for your school Do take advantage of the free trial period Do take advantage of the free customization Do take advantage of the many pre-built reports Do take advantage of the free time you have created by adopting the Trajecsys Report System™ DO NOT Do not choose an online system that simply converts paper-based clinical assessment and tracking to an online format Do not select a clinical assessment and tracking system just because it is based on the system you have used in the past Do not select a clinical assessment and tracking system that forces you to use their ‘cookie-cutter’ forms Do not select an online clinical assessment and tracking system without a proven track record of excellent customer support