Method and apparatus for skills assessment and online training

• US 6,546,230 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1999
• Issued: 04/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Allison, Samantha
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): ADAMS, CHANDA L
• Application Number:
  US09/476,054
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 434/262, 434/350, 434/322, 434/323, 434/327
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/28 for medicine
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

A technique is disclosed for testing and training health care professionals. Competency tests are stored on machine readable media and transmitted via network connections to remote provider systems, such as workstations or diagnostic systems. A health care professional can take a competency test on a particular topic and input his/her responses at the remote provider system. The health care professional'"'"'s responses are evaluated, and an assessment of his/her skills displayed at the provider system. The assessment particularly points out those areas, if any, where the health care professional'"'"'s knowledge is deficient. If the health care professional has any areas which need improvement, a list of relevant courses is also displayed at the provider system. The health care professional may then select a desired course from the user interface. The machine readable media maintains a record of the health care professional'"'"'s assessment as well as a list of completed courses. This information may then be provided to a licensing entity for credit.

Claims

1. A method for testing and training a health care professional, the method comprising:

storing on machine readable media at least one competency test;

establishing a network link between a distribution system and a remote medical diagnostic system;

transmitting to the remote medical diagnostic system the at least one competency test;

receiving responses to the competency test from a health care professional input at the remote medical diagnostic system;

evaluating the skills of the health care professional based on the responses to the competency test; and

analyzing the responses and displaying an assessment of the skills of the health care professional, the assessment indicating one or more areas of deficiency, if any.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote medical diagnostic system is a workstation of a diagnostic imaging system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising searching the machine readable media for a list of relevant courses.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting a course from the list of relevant courses to the remote medical diagnostic system, wherein the course is transmitted in response to a selection input by the health care professional at the remote medical diagnostics system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing on the machine readable media the assessment for the health care professional.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a record of courses completed by the health care professional.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising providing the record of courses completed by the health care professional to a licensing entity for credit.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the record to the licensing entity comprises:

establishing a network link to a system at the licensing entity; and

transmitting to the licensing entity the record of courses completed by the health care professional.

9. A method of testing and training a first health care professional and a second health care professional, the first and second health care professionals being located at respective first and second provider systems, the method comprising:

storing on machine readable media a first competency test and a second competency test, the first competency test pertaining to a first health care area, the second competency test pertaining to a second health care area;

establishing network links between a distribution system and the first and second medical diagnostic systems;

transmitting to the first and second medical diagnostic systems the first and second competency tests, respectively;

receiving responses to the first and second competency tests input by the first and second health care professionals at the first and second medical diagnostic systems, respectively;

evaluating the skills of the first and second health care professionals based on responses input by the first and second health care professionals at the respective first and second provider systems;

displaying at the first and second medical diagnostics systems a respective first and second assessment, the first assessment being indicative of skills of the first health care professional in the first health care area and indicating any areas of deficiency, the second assessment being indicative of skills of the second health care professional in the second health care area and indicating any areas of deficiency; and

displaying at the first medical diagnostic system user viewable indicia, the indicia being representative of a list of relevant courses for improving the areas of deficiency in the first health care area.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and second medical diagnostic systems are workstations of diagnostic imaging systems.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein each medical diagnostic system is one of a magnetic resonance imaging system, a nuclear medicine system, a positron emission tomography system, a computed tomography imaging system, an ultrasound imaging system, and an x-ray imaging system.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising searching the machine readable media for the list of relevant courses.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing on the machine readable media the first and second assessments for the respective first and second health care professionals.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting a course from the list of relevant courses to the first medical diagnostic system, wherein the course is transmitted in response to a selection input by the first health care professional at the first medical diagnostic system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing a record of courses completed by the first health care professional.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing the record of courses completed by the first health care professional to a licensing entity for credit.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein providing the record to the licensing entity includes:

establishing a network to a system at the licensing entity; and

transmitting to the licensing entity the record of courses completed by the first health care professional.

18. A system for testing and training a health care professional at a remote location, the system comprising:

at least one storage device for storing a plurality of training courses and a plurality of competency tests;

communications circuitry for establishing a network link between the at least one storage device and a medical diagnostic system at the remote location, for transmitting a competency test to the medical diagnostic system, for receiving responses to the competency test, the responses being input by the health care professional at the remote medical diagnostic system, and for displaying an assessment of the skills of the health care professional, wherein the assessment indicates any areas of deficiency; and

means for searching the at least one storage device in response to the assessment to locate training courses relevant to the areas of deficiency.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the communications circuitry can transmit a training course to the medical diagnostic system in response to a selection input by the health care professional at the medical diagnostic provider system.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one storage device includes a record of courses completed by the health care professional.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein communications circuitry can establish a network link to a licensing entity and transmit to the licensing entity the record of courses completed by the health care professional for credit.