EHR training at healthcare organizations is a very resource-intensive task. Having strong training programs established help set your organization up for success. However, if an organization has multiple facilities not centrally located, it becomes more difficult to bring large teams together for training both logistically and financially. As healthcare systems expand and grow, so does the need to find better solutions to help cut the costs of training while still facilitating education and adoption. Utilizing virtual EHR training models can help with this and can also provide other benefits including;
Reduced Travel & Training Costs: Providing virtual EHR training, either live or on-demand can drastically reduce travel costs by allowing providers and other employees of a healthcare organization to participate in training from their local hospital or care facility. Virtual training can also reduce training costs by removing the travel expenses of bringing trainers to multiple physical locations to administer training.
Increased Readiness Opportunities: Including virtual EHR training in a robust training program allows for customized 1:1 assistance to help clinicians leading into go-live. Once a user has attended any required initial training, 1:1 practice sessions can be built in to the virtual training program to further assist struggling clinicians. Due to the flexibility and multitude of options when setting up a virtual model, a wide variety of tools can be utilized to encourage the success of each individual prior to Go-Live. This can also help minimize documentation errors when Go-Live kicks off.
Flexibility & Accessibility: Deploying virtual EHR training models provide flexibility to providers, allowing them to participate in on-demand versions of training during the best time for them. When talking about live virtual training, allowing providers to do those trainings from their own facilities helps provide ease of accessibility by removing extra steps like travel and time in a classroom.
Increased engagement: Adding virtual class opportunities to a training program often results in stronger engagement. The proper set-up of curriculum in a virtual training allows end users to stay more focused. Many virtual training platforms also include various ways to improve engagement during a class with things such as random “pop” quizzes, polls. Private chat functionality gives end users the chance to have direct communication with the trainer when they have questions or concerns that they may not ask during an in-person class due to embarrassment.
When looking at deploying a virtual training program, Optimum Healthcare IT offers a comprehensive five-phase approach to virtual training that will set an organization up for success and reduce training costs. These phases include training manager planning, discussion of guidelines, conversion of training materials, pilot training and implementation of training program. If you are interested in learning more about our Virtual EHR Training model, please click here.
