As the healthcare industry continues to feel the strain of labor shortages, higher turnover rates, and widespread burnout, learning and development professionals are under pressure to re-evaluate and optimize their organizations’ training plans. To accommodate a higher influx of new clinicians and ensure a positive onboarding experience, many training departments are exploring blended learning by adding online learning to their electronic health records (EHR) training programs.
Virtual is the new normal and online learning solutions are no longer unchartered territory. Although many organizations are embracing virtual, no one organization is the same; all hospitals and health systems have different needs. They need to onboard and train different roles and specialties with varying EHR experience levels, sometimes in different locations across states or countries. They can see how online learning can save time and cut costs, but sometimes the biggest barrier to making that transition is envisioning how it will actually work in practice. And of course, they want to be sure their trainees have a positive onboarding experience, as well.
Amplifire’s Healthcare Alliance members incorporate the online learning platform in their training programs in ways that are specific to their requirements. Depending on organization size, capacity for in-person support, resources, and preference, training plans look different for different organizations — with Amplifire as the common link. Here are some strategies that we’ve seen Healthcare Alliance members put into practice:
EHR Implementation Plan Examples and Best Practices
1. Journey by experience level
Some Alliance members decide that different learning paths are more appropriate for different skill levels. Although the Amplifire learning algorithm adjusts to each learner’s experience level in real time, some health systems prefer to differentiate onboarding for non-EHR-experienced clinicians and clinicians with EHR experience with the support of their larger, dedicated training team.
For learners who have never trained in EHR systems and are unfamiliar with the interface, jumping into an online training module can be overwhelming. In that instance, learning and development teams elect to have inexperienced learners begin with some type of pre-learning to prepare for further training. Sometimes, that is an in-person session, resources permitting, or introductory video, or other.
For experienced learners, teams have opted to start with Amplifire right out of the gate. Since learners are familiar with the content, Amplifire’s Socratic question method is easier to digest, and learners get the information they need quickly.
From there, there are opportunities for customized learning by specialty function. Finally, all trainees, no matter the experience level, typically end with an Amplifire module to determine mastery of the content and graduate from training.
In training by experience level, the Amplifire platform has helped teams who prefer this path effectively, efficiently, and quickly onboard experienced clinicians in record time. Inexperienced clinicians get the extra support they need, and experienced clinicians don’t waste time learning things they already know. But an issue organizations face is that experienced clinicians often don’t know what they don’t know; so, rather than running into problems down the line, they complete an Amplifire module which finds and fixes misinformation and /or knowledge gaps and ensures 100% proficiency. It’s faster than the in-person alternative and everyone gets the personalized training they need, even online. Incorporating the Amplifire platform during training helps to ensure all clinicians are on the same page and able to master EHR use cases with expertise and finesse.
2. Journey by role
For many of our Healthcare Alliance members, it’s ineffective and inefficient when trainees are spending 12-16 hours in the classroom when they could be spending that time out on the floor helping patients. Teams saw the value of incorporating Amplifire to streamline training, but clinical leaders were concerned about employees who were coming in with little-to-no EHR experience and how they’d respond to online learning in their training program.
Where there is concern about onboarding clinicians of varying experience levels, personalization is a priority. For Alliance members who experience this pushback, they’ve designed different learning paths for different roles. Nurses and providers beginning in the EHR training and onboarding program usually have similar, but not quite identical paths. In one example, both nurses and providers begin with brief instructor-led training (ILT) followed by Amplifire. Then, they move on to either eLearning videos or skills lab and coaching depending on their needs, ending with one-on-one follow ups.
In breaking up training by role, learning and development teams are then able to reap the benefits of Amplifire learner analytics to inform the coaching sessions that follow. Oftentimes, trainers see experienced learners struggling more than inexperienced learners — they tend to carry bad habits. By offering Amplifire to everyone early in training, trainers can gather more trends in learner data and adjust from there. They see patterns that would be invisible in ILT but are picked up by the Amplifire platform.
Even though a common concern in incorporating online learning is how inexperienced learners will respond, clinicians can still struggle no matter what level they enter training. While clinical leaders are often concerned about inexperienced trainees, Amplifire reveals that clinicians with years of EHR experience can struggle just as much. The platform detects these learner behaviors and corrects the knowledge gaps, misinformation, and uncertainty, improving EHR proficiency when clinicians return to the floor. Furthermore, when learning behavior patterns such as this are exposed, organizations use these insights as a multi-pronged solution to inform their blended learning strategy and personalize the learning experience for their employees.
3. Journey by Amplifire
One of the things that makes the Amplifire platform uniquely effective is personalization. With an adaptive learning algorithm, robust analytics, and brain-science based techniques, Amplifire is conducive to the way the human brain naturally learns and the learning experience is rigorously tailored to meet individual needs in real time, and in extended coaching scenarios. So, while some health systems elect to incorporate Amplifire EHR training after some type of ILT, video, or other pre-learning, some jump right in and offer Amplifire modules from the start.
We’ve seen Alliance members that have the benefit of early leadership buy-in and are challenged to get all their clinicians training online, at scale, in record time. In this case, members have the option to choose an on-demand Amplifire EHR course already developed by other Healthcare Alliance members and modify the course to their organization’s specifications.
Next, teams can elect to send trainees through a simulation lab for hands-on experience and EHR specialty-specific training. Learners later complete a refresher course in Amplifire and any providers who are identified to have struggled with the material are coached with at-the-elbow support with Amplifire intervention report data.
Clinicians report higher satisfaction rates with the inclusion of Amplifire training rather than hours-long ILT and classroom work. Since the Amplifire platform adjusts to their individual knowledge level, clinicians of any experience level only spend time where they need to and end up back on the floor in record time, confident in their EHR knowledge and skills. In some instances, Amplifire cuts EHR training from eight or more hours to only two hours total. Organizations respect their learners’ time and expertise while giving time back to patients. However, communication is the key to success in the transition from in-person learning to blended. The more organizations communicate with learners and offer support, the more receptive learners are to the transition to online learning as the primary training tool.
Did you know: Doctors with high electronic health record (EHR) satisfaction are nearly five times more likely to report they’ll stay at their organization. In a time of labor shortages and widespread burnout, organizations cannot afford to overlook how their EHR training delivers in terms of efficacy and quality of learning experience. For a deeper look into how Amplifire helps organizations onboard employees with EHR training in record time by personalizing the learning experience for clinicians of all experience levels, follow up with our blog: “Improve EHR Training Satisfaction by Personalizing the Online Learning Experience”. Or, contact us if you would like more details on our EHR courses.
From the beginning, Amplifire has relied on innovative brain science to guide its product development to create the most effective learning and training solution, perfectly tailored to the way the human brain works. Learn more about how Amplifire helps people learn better and faster by checking out a demo.
