4 Key Takeaways from Elevating Clinician Training: The promise of AI for Personalized Workforce Development, a conversation with Amplifire

In the face of a growing healthcare staffing shortage, particularly among nurses, the need for innovative solutions to workforce training has never been more urgent. In a recent episode of Becker’s Healthcare podcast, Bob Burgin, CEO of Amplifire, joined Lukas Voss to explore the powerful role that AI and adaptive learning are playing in reshaping how healthcare professionals are trained. This conversation highlights how personalized, AI-driven training not only addresses workforce challenges but also enhances clinical performance, improves patient care, and supports long-term healthcare system sustainability.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Complex and Evolving Healthcare Landscape

Healthcare is one of the most complex industries to manage, and with constant changes, staying updated is crucial. The stakes in this sector are life and death.

2. The Power of Personalized Learning

Research has shown that 1:1 expert training is up to two orders of magnitude more effective than standard training. While personalized expert training is impractical at scale, adaptive online learning powered by AI can bridge this gap and make it accessible at a fraction of the cost.

3. Addressing Workforce Shortages with AI

As the U.S. faces a looming nursing shortage, especially with many nurses having under 2 years of experience, there is a critical need to scale workforce training. AI can help pinpoint knowledge gaps and deliver personalized, precision training that’s easy for healthcare professionals to absorb and apply effectively.

4. AI’s Expanding Role in Healthcare Beyond Education

Healthcare leaders are increasingly using AI not just for training, but for tasks like drug discovery, documentation, and other operational efficiencies. However, true success with AI in healthcare lies at the intersection of curated content and expert systems.

The podcast delves into how AI-powered personalized training offers a scalable solution to the current workforce crisis, bridging the gap between expert-level training and everyday healthcare professionals.

Listen to the full podcast to learn more about the role of AI in healthcare training and workforce development!

Elevating Clinician Training: The promise of AI for Personalized Workforce Development, a conversation with Amplifire

Elevating Clinician Training: The promise of AI for Personalized Workforce Development, a conversation with Amplifire

In a recent episode of the Becker’s Healthcare podcast, Lukas Voss spoke with Bob Burgin, CEO of Amplifire, about the transformative role AI and adaptive learning are playing in healthcare workforce development. The conversation highlights the urgent need to address staffing shortages, particularly among nurses, and how personalized, AI-driven training is not only enhancing clinical performance but also improving patient care.

2025 Healthcare Alliance Virtual Summit

On February 12, 2025, over 100 Healthcare Alliance members from over 30 healthcare organizations gathered to engage and experience the annual Healthcare Alliance Virtual Summit, Innovation Unleashed! 

The outstanding accomplishments and results of our Healthcare Alliance were thrown into the spotlight this year and it made for a memorable and exciting hour!

Learn more by downloading our Post-Summit Program below.

Accounting & Professional Services Catalog

Courses are co-developed and added regularly by Accounting and Professional Services Alliance members across the country. Course content can be quickly deployed as is, or there are opportunities to develop new course content, supported by a dedicated content and design team.

3 Key Takeaways from Advancing Training for your Clinicians: A Conversation with Tampa General Hospital

In the dynamic landscape of healthcare, where advancements in technology and patient care continually evolve, the role of training for clinicians is pivotal. In a compelling podcast discussion hosted by Mariah Muhammad for Becker’s Healthcare, Rachel Feinman, Vice President of Innovation at Tampa General Hospital (TGH), and Austin Smith, Director of Healthcare Alliance Development at Amplifire, delved into the transformative impact of advancing training methodologies for healthcare professionals. Here are three key takeaways from their enlightening conversation:

1. Build a Resilient Workforce Through Innovative Training Methodologies

A resilient healthcare workforce is fundamental to delivering consistent, high-quality care amidst evolving patient needs and healthcare challenges. “Looking at and reevaluating the way that we think about training is part of an even broader initiative and strategic goal around team member resiliency,” says Ms. Feinman. “Team members who are better trained feel more empowered to do their job.” Mr. Smith echoed these sentiments, highlighting Amplifire’s commitment to supporting healthcare organizations in cultivating a culture of innovative learning. 

By facilitating ongoing education and professional development through accessible, engaging learning platforms, Amplifire contributes to workforce resilience by equipping clinicians with the skills and knowledge needed to confidently navigate complex healthcare environments. Modernized training accelerates the onboarding process by leveraging previous clinician experience, and saving time by not retraining individuals on knowledge they already have. This has been especially successful in onboarding to Electronic Health Records like Epic. 

“We train and deploy at scale,” says Mr. Smith. Experienced clinicians might not need to sit through hours of classroom-based training, but instead can take an asynchronous Amplifire module to assess and solidify knowledge and get them to the floor in a fraction of the time.

2. Personalization and Customization Enhance Training Effectiveness

This personalized approach not only accelerates the onboarding process but aligns training content with the latest healthcare protocols and technologies, ensuring clinicians are well-prepared to deliver high-quality care through adaptive learning technologies that harness brain science-based methodologies to customize educational content for each learner.

Traditional training models in healthcare often follow a one-size-fits-all approach, where clinicians receive standardized education irrespective of their prior experience or learning style.  “Like many things, COVID was the impetus for a lot of change. And I think that was the case around workforce training,” says Ms. Feinman. The shift towards remote and virtual training necessitated a reevaluation of training strategies. Instead of uniform classroom sessions, TGH embraced personalized training experiences tailored to individual learning needs.

Ms. Feinman emphasized that treating each clinician as a unique learner significantly enhances engagement and knowledge retention. By leveraging data insights and platforms like Amplifire, TGH now delivers targeted micro-learning modules that address specific needs identified through data analytics.  “We have access to a lot of data,” Ms. Feinman continues. “Now we can target training down to the team member, down to the shift, or down to the unit that needs it.” This targeted approach not only streamlines training processes but produces behavior change, ensuring that clinicians are proficient and confident in applying their skills directly to patient care scenarios, without adding unnecessary burden.

3. Integration of Technology Drives Efficiency and Patient Outcomes

The integration of AI and personalized learning methodologies will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of healthcare training. 

Ms. Feinman underscored TGH’s commitment to leveraging AI not as a replacement for human expertise but as a tool to augment clinician capabilities and streamline operational efficiencies.  “Our goal at TGH is leveraging AI to help our team members focus on the aspects of their job that they need to feel better about the work that they do,” says Ms. Feinman. Specifically, she discussed examining the nurse manager role. “What we were asking of these nurse managers across systems is just too much.” Ms. Feinman states. 

Reimagining the nurse manager role through technology and AI optimizes operational workflows and empowers clinicians to operate at the top of their licensure. By reducing administrative burdens and enhancing decision-making support, AI-enabled tools allow clinicians to focus more on patient care, thereby fostering a resilient and motivated workforce.

Additionally, innovative strategies such as virtual enablement on the inpatient side are showing success maximizing clinician talent and improving staff resiliency. “If our team members are able to effectively manage and address patients virtually, and they can increase the number of patients they’re able to serve by leveraging that technology, then it’s better for the team member and better for the patient,” says Ms. Feinman. 

Mr. Smith highlighted how Amplifire’s AI capabilities facilitate rapid content development and deployment, significantly reducing the time and resources traditionally required for training. By automating routine tasks and enabling personalized learning pathways, Amplifire empowers healthcare organizations to scale their training initiatives without compromising individualized attention to learners.AI-enabled training not only enhances clinical proficiency but also plays a critical role in mitigating risks such as infection rates. By delivering targeted training modules based on real-time data analytics, healthcare systems can proactively address challenges like healthcare-associated infections, leading to improved patient safety and overall healthcare quality.

Amplifire and Tampa General Partnership Brings Innovation to Practice

“The partnership we have with Amplifire really exemplifies the reason we do this kind of innovation work,” says Ms. Feinman. “We are just scratching the surface on opportunities to collaborate across training and education,” says Mr. Smith, about the burgeoning partnership with TGH.

The insights shared underscore a transformative shift in healthcare training paradigms. By embracing personalized, technology-driven approaches to training, healthcare organizations like Tampa General Hospital are not only enhancing clinical proficiency but also fostering a resilient workforce capable of delivering exceptional patient care.

To listen to the full podcast by Becker’s Healthcare, click here.

Amplifire Wins Silver in Brandon Hall Group’s Excellence in Technology Awards

Boulder, Colorado, Feb. 27, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The 2023 Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Awards™ are given for work in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Human Resources, Sales Enablement, Future of Work, and Education Technology. 

Amplifire, a leader in innovative adaptive eLearning and content development, won two coveted Brandon Hall Group Silver awards for excellence in the “Best Advance in Content Authoring Technology” and “Best Advance in AI and Machine Learning” categories. 

The winners are listed at https://excellenceawards.brandonhall.com/winners/ 

Amplifire submitted for two categories best representing its latest product launch, including its new authoring platform. The new authoring platform offers cutting-edge content creation capabilities to transform development and time-to-delivery of high-quality instructional material with the power of artificial intelligence (AI), enabling users to spend less time on ideation and planning and more time elevating content. This recognition underscores Amplifire’s commitment to eLearning excellence and dedication to staying ahead of the AI curve to provide the best learning experiences. It is the company’s second consecutive year securing multiple Brandon Hall Group Tech Excellence awards. 

Amplifire Chief Product Officer, Nick Hjort, shares, “We are honored to be recognized among the top innovators in the industry. We’ve taken content creation to new heights, elevating the content development process to deliver an exceptional experience. The incorporation of AI is a game-changer, ushering in a more autonomous, intuitive, and expedient course creation process, resulting in the delivery of top-tier educational resources.” 

“In our 30th year, the Excellence in Technology Awards continue to showcase the best innovations in learning, talent management, talent acquisition, HR, workforce management, and sales enablement technologies. We are proud to receive applications from a diverse range of organizations globally, reflecting the ever-evolving landscape of technology solutions” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke, leader of the Excellence Awards program. 

Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based upon these criteria: fit the need, program design, functionality, innovation, and overall measurable benefits.  

“Our awards program is distinguished by the thorough evaluation process led by industry experts. Judges meticulously score each entry, and our executive leadership team at Brandon Hall Group reviews and validates the judging and scoring. The level of the award is solely determined by the number of points, ensuring a fair and unbiased recognition of excellence in technology,” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Executive Officer Mike Cooke. 

About Amplifire 

Amplifire is a next-generation learning platform with more than four billion interactions and is an innovator in high-stakes training for critical roles. The Amplifire platform harnesses advances in cognitive science to create personalized learning and drive successful outcomes. The platform’s adaptive algorithms guide millions of learners to mastery across healthcare, government, and other industries, providing unique analytics that offer valuable learner insights.  

About Brandon Hall Group™  

Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights, and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era. 

For over 30 years, we have empowered, recognized, and certified excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Our HCM Excellence Awards program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.” 

The awards recognize the best organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. We are honored to receive applications from organizations worldwide ranging from small, medium, large, and global enterprises to government, not-for-profits, and associations. 

Amplifire Secures a Patent Protecting Brain Science-based Al Assistance in an eLearning Platform

Boulder, Colorado, March 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amplifire, the global leader in adaptive eLearning, was awarded another patentfrom the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This latest patent expands Amplifire’s ability to leverage advancements in brain science to help people learn faster, remember longer, and apply their knowledge more broadly. 

Amplifire’s existing IP portfolio protects the ability to diagnose a user’s knowledge while simultaneously assessing that user’s confidence in their knowledge, which improves learning and permits powerful insights. The new patent builds upon that capability by introducing a digital tutoring system powered by recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), which ensures that AI uses proven-effective learning techniques to support a learner’s journey. 

“One of the appealing aspects of this patent is its breadth,” said Dr. Matthew Hays, Amplifire’s VP of Research and Analytics. “We’ve built on a tremendous amount of research about how people learn versus how we think we learn.” 

Nick Hjort, Amplifire’s Chief Product Officer, has been keeping his eye on AI for years. “This patent is a continuation of a patent that was awarded in 2017 and maintains retroactive and future protections,” he confirmed. “All the while, our team has been committed to staying ahead of the curve and embracing the AI revolution.”  

The power of AI systems like ChatGPT allows Amplifire’s learning platform to generate new educational content instantaneously and adapt in real time to a learner’s needs. The patented technology also leverages the vast amount of proprietary data that Amplifire has collected, which includes over 4.2 billion learner interactions. 

Bryce Youngren, Managing Partner of Polaris Growth Fund and Amplifire board member, added, “This patent is a testament to Amplifire’s ability to leverage cognitive science, AI, and data to revolutionize eLearning. With science and AI helping to optimize the last mile of delivering information to long-term memory, this isn’t just a patent; it’s a way to shape the future of education.” 

To learn more about Amplifire, reach out here.  

About Amplifire
Amplifire is a next-generation learning platform with more than four-billion interactions and is an innovator in high-stakes training for critical roles. The Amplifire platform harnesses advances in cognitive science to create personalized learning and drive successful outcomes. The platform’s adaptive algorithms guide millions of learners to mastery across healthcare, government, and other industries, providing unique analytics that offer valuable learner insights. 

Collaborating to Provide Better Learning Experiences Through Targeted Skills Competency Training

Boulder, Colorado, April 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amplifire, the leading adaptive eLearning and content development platform, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Kahuna, the leading skills management software, to revolutionize training in a new age of workforce development. Combining Amplifire’s unparalleled adaptive, brain science-based learning algorithm and AI-powered content with Kahuna’s digitized skills management platform, this partnership aims to facilitate seamless skills tracking, elevated educational content development, and faster, more effective training. 

 Amplifire’s collaboration with Kahuna will provide a robust, end-to-end learning and competency offering, equipping organizations with deeper visibility into validated skills data and enabling granular tracking of workforce competence.Jointly, Amplifire and Kahuna reduce the administrative burden associated with tracking requirements, eliminateredundancies and time wasted by respecting learners’ expertise, and ensure individuals are empowered with the right skills to give themselves and the business a competitive edge. 

“At Kahuna we are deeply committed to empowering organizations with the tools they need to navigate the complexities of today’s technical and frontline workforce challenges,” said Jai Shah, CEO of Kahuna. “Our partnership with Amplifiremarks a step forward in this mission, as it allows us to leverage their cutting-edge adaptive learning content alongside our skills management platform to enable more connected and informed workforce decision-making in line with business needs.”

Bob Burgin, CEO of Amplifire, asserted, “In partnering with Kahuna, we’re crafting a powerful tool poised to drive tangible advancements in workforce development. Together, we’re enabling organizations to tackle workforce challenges in a dynamic and unprecedented way, housing the best solutions in one offering. But more than that, we’re opening the door to work together on many key verticals.” 

Based on current use cases, the partnership is already yielding results for accreditation requirement fulfillment, administrative burden reduction, deep insights into learner knowledge, misunderstandings, and struggles, as well as empowerment and guidance for career advancement.

The collaboration with Kahuna is part of a broader initiative by Amplifire to invest in innovative and effective workforce development solutions. By combining forces with Kahuna, Amplifire aims to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of workforce training. 

About Amplifire 

Amplifire is a next-generation learning platform with more than four billion interactions and is an innovator in high-stakes training for critical roles. The Amplifire platform harnesses advances in cognitive science to create personalized learning and drive successful outcomes. The platform’s adaptive algorithm guides millions of learners to mastery across healthcare, government, and other segments, providing unique analytics that offer valuable learner insights. 

About Kahuna

Kahuna is the only skills management software built for operations, learning, and human resources. Kahuna equips enterprise organizations with validated skills data to understand workforce capability, align talent supply and demand, and increase the return on training investment. Across a wide array of industries including healthcare, energy, manufacturing, and aerospace, Kahuna helps organizations build a more skilled, competitive workforce. 

Role of Generative AI in eLearning Content

When delving into the excitement surrounding the integration of generative AI into eLearning content development, perspectives vary depending on who you ask.  The promise of shortened timelines and faster outputs is often thrilling to the C-suite. However, when content authors are asked about the tangible benefits of generative AI in their workflow, their responses might not be as enthused. 

This is because, for content authors, generative AI has yet to significantly simplify their lives. While it aids in cutting corners and expediting development time, it inadvertently demands more time during the quality assurance phase. For generative AI to truly make a meaningful impact on the lives of savvy content authors, it must streamline the development process without introducing unnecessary obstacles. 

Amplifire’s own internal content team is seeing a significant reduction in content development time. Here are the ways we see AI helping authors, rather than adding to the content overload: 

1. Planning 

Authors invest a substantial amount of time meticulously outlining courses and crafting course questions. This involves listing learning objectives, themes, topics, and organizing them in adherence to instructional design principles. Traditionally, this planning occurs outside the platform used for development and entails multiple steps to create the course shell and overview. This is precisely where AI intervention can be transformative. By integrating AI, authors can input their objectives, topics, and source material, allowing AI to construct the shell and streamline the course creation process. This not only provides authors with a significant head start on course creation but also enables them to allocate more time to refine the details. It also reduces reliance on external tools like Excel, centralizing the planning process and improves the accuracy and consistency of course layouts. 

2. Content Generation 

Many authors already leverage generative AI as a tool to overcome writer’s block. While creating course/question shells may be a relatively straightforward task, fleshing out the details can be more challenging. With generative AI assisting the writing process, authors can redirect their focus toward enhancing the content rather than grappling with ideation. Additionally, with the shell generated from source content, the likelihood of factual errors is reduced, thereby minimizing the need for increased quality assurance time. Additionally, Ensures a high standard of content quality and relevance. 

As we navigate the evolving landscape of eLearning content development, the role of generative AI stands out as a transformative force with both promise and challenges. The key lies in the strategic application of AI, particularly in the planning and content generation phases. While challenges persist, these real-world efficiency gains underscore the potential of generative AI to be a valuable ally in creating more robust and engaging eLearning content. As technology continues to evolve, it holds the promise of not only meeting but exceeding the expectations of content authors in the ever-evolving landscape of educational content creation. 

Want to learn more about how Amplifire is harnessing AI to super-charge our authors’ toolkit? Reach out!

AI and The Future of Learning

Nick Hjort
SVP of Product and Development

For many people the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) conjures frightening visions of systems like Skynet from Terminator or HAL from 2001, which may lead to a valid level of apprehension of any technology that claims to employ AI. This fear may increase when AI is applied to something as personal as learning. In fact, great minds like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have warned us against the potential dangers of Artificial Intelligence.

The truth is that great benefit can be found in online learning with the lightest application of Artificial Intelligence. Merriam Webster defines Artificial Intelligence as “a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers.” Intelligent behavior can manifest itself in computers in many ways from the overt to the subtle, while still not getting close to the dystopian image of AI from the movies.

When done properly, the utilization of AI can be applied without distracting from the learning experience itself. By creating a sophisticated algorithm, AI can create learning environments that improve learner insights and experience.

Here are just a few ways that you may see AI applied within online learning experiences. They range from the obvious to the behind the scenes application of Artificial Intelligence within learning software.

Personalized Learning

Developing a personalized learning path or a tutor-like experience increases engagement as it makes the experience meaningful. Creating platforms that adjust to only deliver content that learners are not knowledgeable about improves engagement and desirability while also providing instructors with valuable insights. These small nudges and personalizations simulate interpersonal experiences, but cost less and provide ample insight into knowledge gaps.

These personalized learning paths manifest in 2 different ways:

One way is through assignment generation from one learning experience to another. The AI system will make a determination from the results of one learning experience to determine what the learner should do next. Whether that is more exposure to a particular topic because the results show the learner didn’t grasp that topic well enough, or if it’s new material to advance what has already been learned because proficiency in the base topic was shown by the learner.

The other way is personalizing the learning experience while it is happening. An AI system can determine how well a learner is grasping concepts and adjust in real time to what a learner needs. Strategies like branching, skipping topics where mastery is shown early, repeating of topics in other forms where struggle is present, are just a couple of the methods to achieve this personalization. Advantages of personalizing the learning experience are: Time savings for learners who show mastery early, or have a large amount of initial knowledge on the topic. Assurance that mastery has been achieved instead of just time spent by the time learning experience is completed.

Behavior Assistance

Behavior Assistance is a powerful AI tool that can improve attention and offer encouragement or guidance. AI assistance tracks when learners are disengaged, trying to cheat, or kicking ass. When disengaged behavior is detected, AI can step in and change those behaviors. We know that focus and motivation are key behaviors that lead to lasting learning, so the AI will encourage or correct disengaged behavior so that a learner can maximize the benefit from their time spent learning.

An AI nudge could be the difference needed to get learners to realize that the eLearning is just as real and valuable as a face-to-face discussion or performance evaluation. The valuable insight Behavior Assistance provides to the designers and instructors informs them if their performance results are aligning with the behavior. Behavior Assistance indicates if the learning is going to lead to change. It could be the insight that determines if a learner is apathetic or genuinely trying, but really struggling or if they are taking learning seriously and succeeding. This gives trainers and instructors the information to better facilitate targeted interventions and conversations to further improve upon the learner’s knowledge gains and resulting performance.

During the learning experience, behavior assistance can manifest in either a passive or active manor. Passive assistance takes the form of learner messaging that nudges them into the correct behavior. Passive assistance may also go as far as to inform an instructor of the behavior of the learner so that a needed intervention may occur. Active assistance takes more of a commanding role of the experience. The AI may actively force a learner to do more work or repeat a topic when poor behavior is detected. Other actions may be taken such as a forced break from the software to try to get the learner in the correct mindset for learning.

Instructor Assistance

Perhaps one of the most valuable tools AI can provide to improve learning outcomes and truly shape the future of learning is through the reporting. A learner’s behavior and performance can be shown through reports indicating where interventions are needed or even where a shift in our own instruction should occur. A well-written AI can pinpoint where an individual or group; struggles, has uncertainty, where they hold incorrect prior knowledge, or holds dangerous information. From these reports, personalized learning through the platform is provided and instructors can also align their own instruction and coaching to specifically meet the needs of their learners.

The aim for AI in learning should not be to replace an instructor or manager in the overall learning experience. AI should be the first line of analysis to try to assess what is going on with a learner. This will aid an instructor in pinpointing where there time is best spent with a specific learner or in front of an entire class. As with most software, the goal is to optimize time to be sure that the highest level of value is gained from the time spent on a task.

ChatBot

ChatBot is a feature that many learning platforms employ to generate a more interpersonal experience and give learners more autonomy to freely ask questions. In many instances, learners will be more open with a Chatbot than they would in a face-to-face environment because any social hindrances are completely removed. ChatBots can lead to a distracted or frustrated learning experience if not created thoughtfully. Learners can tell when answers are automated and become frustrated if the ChatBot does not deliver satisfactory answers to their questions.

Conclusion

AI is incredibly powerful. It can save organizations the laborious task of analyzing curriculum or results just to determine what’s working and what is not. AI can also save organizations time by automating tedious tasks. Through personalized and data-driven eLearning, less time is needed to cover curriculum thus, organizations can spend their time delivering more individualized and meaningful approaches to training than before. AI is powerful, but only works really well when we keep humanity involved.

Remember, AI is best employed when it is not noticed. It should not be a distraction to learning; rather it should be a natural enhancement to a learning product that improves outcomes and experiences. Behind every insight, every interaction or algorithm created, people are there. AI can make life easier, so more time can be spent building meaningful and productive relationships that evoke greater results.