Use of the isabel decision support system to improve diagnostic accuracy of pediatric nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner students.

Patient safety is a priority for healthcare today. Despite a large proportion of malpractice claims the result of diagnostic error, the use of diagnostic decision support to improve diagnostic accuracy has not been widely used among healthcare professionals. Moreover, while the use of diagnostic decision support has been studied in attending physicians, residents, medical students and advanced practice nurses, the use of decision support among Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) students has not been studied. The authors have implemented the Isabel diagnostic decision support system into the curriculum and are evaluating its impact. The goals of the evaluation study are to describe the diagnostic accuracy and self-reported confidence levels of Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) and Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) students over the course of their programs, to examine changes in diagnostic accuracy and self-reported confidence levels over the study period, and to evaluate differences between FNP and PNP students in diagnostic accuracy and self-reported confidence levels for pediatric cases. This paper summarizes establishment of the academic/industry collaboration, case generation, integration of Isabel into the curriculum, and evaluation design.