Category Archives: Top Stories

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ITS uses Canvas data to improve Undergraduate Nursing program’s clinical evaluations

By | April 27, 2018
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nursing students studying

ITS Teaching & Learning data concierge Jeff Ziegler recently completed a project for the School of Nursing’s Undergraduate Nursing program that has greatly improved their student evaluation process. Working with clinical instructor Diane Accurso and student advisors Rachel Patterson and Chad Gorski, Ziegler designed and implemented a custom solution for their Professional Nursing Education (PNE) clinical course that uses… Read More »

EMERSE: Michigan Medicine’s powerful medical record search engine

By | April 26, 2018
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Any note or document that is written by a medical professional (like a doctor, pharmacist, nurse, or social worker) is called free text, meaning anything goes—from syntax errors to misspellings to abbreviations, and more. That’s tough for a search engine to navigate. To get any information at all for things like research studies or billing information, users would have… Read More »

Tech innovation redefines Medical School curriculum

By | April 24, 2018
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Michigan medical students attend a lecture. There are rows of computers and desks with students learning at each computer station.

The U-M Medical School is undergoing a curriculum transformation to develop future physician leaders in health care. In the previous model, students spent the first two years of their education focusing on science and the second two years in the clinic working with patients. In the new curriculum, students are exposed to the clinical aspects of medicine in… Read More »

“Father of the Internet” retires from U-M

By | April 11, 2018
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Douglas Van Houweling, UMSI professor of information, also known as the “Father of the Internet,” retired in April after a long, remarkable career at UMSI and U-M. During his time at U-M, Van Houweling has served as UMSI associate dean for research and innovation; U-M dean for academic outreach and vice provost for information and technology; and U-M… Read More »

Register for Enriching Scholarship 2018

By | March 27, 2018
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Registration for the 21st Annual Enriching Scholarship Conference opens April 2. Sessions will be held May 7-11. During Enriching Scholarship, U-M faculty and staff can participate in over 100 sessions about how to effectively integrate teaching and technology. All sessions are FREE, but require registration. Keynote address & workshop This year’s keynote speaker is Katie Linder of Oregon State… Read More »

Helping you to find the phish

By | March 26, 2018
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keyboard with "phishing" button and fishhook laying across it

Following successful pilots within the departments of Pathology and Family Medicine to identify and report simulated phishing emails, Information Assurance (IA) and Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) are gearing up to conduct a phased, anti-phishing educational awareness campaign throughout all of Michigan Medicine. HITS staff will be the initial target group to receive a series of simulated… Read More »

Michigan Medicine keeps smartphones smart… and secure

By | March 15, 2018
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For nearly a year, Michigan Medicine has used AirWatch to provide the required encryption and information assurance necessary to safely access secure internal resources on smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The organization’s policy requires staff to enroll personally owned devices in AirWatch if they are used to access the internal wireless network or share sensitive healthcare information. Health Information Technology & Services… Read More »

Workshop offers IT tips for research travel

By | March 12, 2018
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students sitting on floor of airport terminal surrounded by luggage.

The flight is booked, the reservations made. You’re about to embark on your research trip to another country, time zone, continent…maybe all of the above. Understandably, you’ve focused on the logistics, and now you’re focused on the research fun. But, if you want to ensure a crisis-free experience, there’s another travel plan you need to make: the IT… Read More »

Dearborn ITS improves identity management

By | February 28, 2018
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Dearborn campus in winter

Dearborn ITS recently launched new processes for improving student identity management. Robert Ward (Enterprise Application manager) partnered with the Account Lifecycle Optimization (ALO) project team, UM-Dearborn Registrar and Admissions to develop new solutions with his team for improving student identity management. Uniqname student self-service UM-Dearborn leveraged the work of the ALO project to improve the uniqname account creation for… Read More »

ITS retires its oldest legacy system, the Uniqname Service

By | February 27, 2018
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screenshot of uniqname creation interface

In early February, ITS retired its oldest running production system—the Uniqname Service (UNS). Implemented in 1992, UNS was running on outdated hardware with an old homegrown “UMCE Linux” operating system. Due to high risk, the system had not been shut down or upgraded since 2012. “We were concerned about the fragility and technical debt associated with the homegrown… Read More »

UCAN platform connects students and alumni

By | February 26, 2018
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screenshot of UCAN landing page

U-M has one of the largest alumni networks that spans the state and the globe. Until recently, accessing this robust network often relied upon Excel spread sheets, paper lists, making LinkedIn connections, or through serendipitous meetings—not exactly a convenient or reliable system. Frequently, students asked staff at the University Career Center (UCC): “Is there an easy way to… Read More »

First Privacy@Michigan symposium draws over 200 participants

By | February 23, 2018
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On January 30, the university held its first Privacy@Michigan symposium. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of International Data Privacy Day, the event featured an interdisciplinary group of U-M faculty and researchers who addressed top privacy-related—and threatening—issues in an era when the very notion has gotten complicated. The event was sponsored jointly by the U-M School of Information (UMSI), and… Read More »

Barcode scanning eliminates breast milk misadministration

By | February 12, 2018
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Woman in sanitary scrubs arranging bottles in a refrigeration unit.

Thanks in part to a barcoding system developed by Health Information Technology & Services, C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital (C&W) virtually eliminated the misadministration of breast milk to infants in their care. C&W is home to the first 24/7 formula and breast milk preparation room in a pediatric hospital nationwide. Opened in 2011, the Milk… Read More »

2017 Michigan IT Symposium wrap-up

By | January 31, 2018
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Over 560 IT staff from U-M’s four campuses filled the Michigan League this past November to develop skills, form and strengthen working relationships, and showcase how their work contributes to moving U-M forward as part of the 2017 Michigan IT Symposium.   After the event, 216 attendees provided their feedback on what worked well and what they’d like to… Read More »

New social login service supports guest access

By | January 23, 2018
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U-M social login interface

A new Identity and Access Management (IAM) service is a gamechanger in helping the Alumni Association fulfill its mission to connect alumni with services that nurture an ongoing relationship with the university. “Using social login allows the Alumni Association to overcome the single biggest barrier for providing alumni access to our online services and alumni benefits,” says Andre… Read More »

ITS offers new cloud vendor choices

By | January 18, 2018
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An illustration of servers in clouds

For several years, Information and Technology Services (ITS) offered Amazon Web Services (AWS) at U-M as its sole cloud computing IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) offering. That is changing. U-M recently signed enterprise agreements to offer Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The addition of these industry leading vendors provides a strong foundation of cloud computing solutions, and will enable… Read More »

EHR prompts improve chronic disease management and preventive care

By | January 15, 2018
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A male doctor stands at a computer

Something exciting is happening at Michigan Medicine. And U-M patients are benefiting. In recent months, the screening rate for depression symptoms in patients who had diagnosis of depression in last 12 months rose from 10 percent to nearly 70 percent. The rate of lung cancer screenings in smokers doubled. And the hepatitis C screening rate improved fivefold among… Read More »