Simulation-Based Education: The New Paradigm in Healthcare Technology – Breakaway Thinking

The following is a guest blog post by Heather Haugen, PhD, Managing Director and CEO at The Breakaway Group (A Conduent Company). Check out all of the blog posts in the Breakaway Thinking series.
Heather Haugen
Imagine a warehouse filled with classroom training sessions running simultaneously, hotel lobbies packed with consultants checking in and out at the same time, overrun parking lots, buses shuttling employees off campus, and more. These are the harsh, yet common challenges healthcare organizations face with classroom training – a predicament explored in the second edition of Beyond Implementation: A Prescription for the Adoption of Healthcare Technology. As the book explores the real-life headaches of classroom training, it calls on healthcare leaders and organizations to embrace a new education paradigm.

Today the healthcare industry has made considerable advances in technology. Enterprise applications now offer more features and functionality than ever before. Analytics programs, telehealth platforms, mobile health applications – each represents one of the many innovations changing the face of our industry. Yet despite these advances, classroom training remains one feature that has yet to change, a feature deeply-engrained in the habits, mental models, and beliefs of the industry. Healthcare executives already face significant pressure from making multi-million-dollar investments in clinical information systems. Changing how users are educated disrupts another component of healthcare for which executives become solely responsible, and must address and manage.

Despite the strength of the status quo, Beyond Implementation calls for healthcare’s departure from the classroom training model, as research highlights its ineffectiveness for teaching learners how to use new technology – a reason why most industries have abandoned or redesigned the model. Instead of face-to-face instruction, the book recommends healthcare organizations take a simulation-based approach to education, which provides learners with hands-on experience completing their workflows in a simulated EHR. The value of simulation-based education was first proven in the commercial airline industry. Like healthcare today, the airline industry experienced significant disruption through technology as the industry transitioned from analog to flight control systems. Unable to educate pilots quickly enough, the industry developed flight simulators that provided hands-on training that was relevant, accessible, repeatable, and sustainable. The new education model produced impressive learning outcomes, which is why the book argues for a similar model to be applied to healthcare.

Unlike classroom training, simulation-based education is more personalized and targeted. Education is role-specific and teaches learners how to complete their daily tasks in a simulated EHR environment. Users learn to complete their daily tasks according to best practice workflows guided by real-life clinical scenarios that increase relevancy, retention, and engagement. One significant benefit is users accumulate experience in the application without risks to patient safety. They also access their education at a time most convenient to them, as education is accessible 24/7 anywhere there is an internet connection. The accessibility of simulation-based education eliminates the headaches and costs of renting out warehouses, hiring trainers and consultants, scheduling staff to attend three eight-hour training sessions, and more.  It’s no wonder why simulators are shown to improve confidence and knowledge in the system – which are key indicators of proficiency.

Considering the challenges and opportunities facing healthcare organizations, the need for a better education paradigm is apparent. Now more than ever, our industry is grappling with the challenges of swapping their legacy systems with new enterprise applications, which research has shown brings significantly greater challenges than the switch from paper to electronic. In addition to new strategies around leadership and other areas, organizations must provide education that helps users make the transition from old workflows, keyboard shortcuts, and habits more quickly and seamlessly. Our industry is also beginning to focus on improving outcomes through technology, a trend that requires organizations to create a workforce of proficient users efficiently and effectively.

In every aspect, healthcare stands to benefit by replacing its analog approach to education. Whether reducing costs or improving knowledge and confidence in the system, the argument for classroom training is obsolete. It’s time that our industry embrace a new model that reflects the level of innovation healthcare leaders and professionals are working so hard to adopt.

Conduent is a sponsor of the Breakaway Thinking series of blog posts. The Breakaway Group is a leader in EHR and Health IT training. Download their Free Whitepaper “Leadership Insights: Gaining Value from Technology Investments.”

   

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