Dallas’ Parkland Hospital Teams Up With DevSecOps Innovator on Medical Technology Training During COVID-19

Article published in Dallas Innovates by Alex Edwards, Senior Editor. 

Dallas-based Parkland Health & Hospital System, the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has announced a partnership with Orasi to offer critical, effective virtual training to thousands of hospital employees while the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Orasi bills itself as a “DevSecOps innovator.” The Atlanta-based company uses automation to enable the acceleration, security, and adoption of software applications. Its virtual training platform, OrasiLabs, is essentially a realistic online environment for students—Orasi said it encourages engagement and increases knowledge retention to provide vital preparation for various healthcare scenarios.

“We have always conducted these trainings in person in both small and large classrooms, allowing for hands-on instruction,” Daniel Cluck, Parkland’s senior clinical informatics learning specialist, said in a statement. “COVID-19 put an end to that just when we needed to train more than 400 new residents on Epic, an electronic health records system. But we couldn’t pause training.”

With OrasiLabs, Parkland instructors will now be able to teach large groups at single time on multiple screens. But, the tech enables the same personalized ‘over the shoulder’ instruction and screen control that comes with in-person learning.

There’s also attendance tracking and analytics capabilities that give instructors insight into who’s engaged and attentive, or who might need extra help during lessons.

Parkland’s system includes numerous outreach and education programs, in addition to 30 community-based clinics and premier services like the Level I Rees-Jones Trauma Center and Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In operation since 1894, the hospital today averages more than 60,000 hospital discharges and 1 million outpatient visits annually, according to a statement.

The training programs are crucial, especially during today’s times.

Parkland said medical staff are required to be properly trained in various tech-focused areas: the use of electronic healthcare records, imaging devices, mobile health apps, and more. If any systems aren’t properly used, what could result is poor patient care or inappropriate billing.

Orasi’s experience includes working with hundreds of brands across the globe in a variety of industries. Its solutions and services are said to offer full lifecycle support and integration, ensuring the delivery of transformative applications.

“We are proud to work with Parkland to help ensure medical and administrative teams can remain up to date on the latest software technologies and patient care solutions during this time of social distancing,” Orasi VP David Hand said in a release. “Our solution allows for active learning, despite the virtual nature of the training, creating high retention rates, helping to ensure Parkland can offer high quality care at all times.”