E-learning Tips

In this day and age of on-the-go learning, NPD practitioners are tasked with developing content that goes beyond the traditional format of lecture and slides. This may seem daunting, but e-learning (or learning that occurs via electronic media) opens up a whole new realm of education. Learners can interact with the content in a way that lectures don't provide. The barrier between educator and learner is taken down. 

Below are some tips to remember when creating e-learning, but the first step would be to do some research. E-learning is more than just adding interactivity to some slides, so take some time to educate yourself about creating content and what the best platforms are to build that content within. Some software even has a free trial so you can actually play around with content and see if the platform works for you. You may want something that already has some structure built in so you can just plug in the information or you may choose something that allows you more freedom to create the content as you see fit. Test a few different softwares to see what the is the best fit for you.

One more disclaimer - the tips below are for e-learning, but can be applied to mobile learning (or learning that occurs via mobile devices such as a phone or tablet). However, mobile learning requires some different parameters when creating and launching the content, so make sure you research and understand those before building the course.

1. The first step is to know your audience. Who are the learners and what are their educational needs? Are they familiar with the topic already or is this something completely new to them? Will your learners be novices or experts? Also, there is a bit of a learning curve for some when it comes to technology, so keep that in mind when building your course.
2. When deciding what content needs to go into the course, make sure you separate the information that your learners need to know from the information that's nice to know. Ask yourself - Is this information critical? Will the learners need to know this information in order to do their job? If they don't have this information, what would be the impact? Omit content that does not help the learners do their job. For example, when teaching someone how to bake a cake, they don't need to know the history of cake baking in order to successfully bake a cake. 
3. There is a basic course structure for e-learning (which is similar to most learning structures):
• Welcome your learners to the course.
• Include instructions explaining how to navigate the course, what buttons they need to click, etc.
• Add an introduction telling the learners why they are taking the course and how they will benefit by learning the content.
• Outline the course objectives or outcome statement.
• Build your course content. Modules shouldn't be longer than 10 slides (or about 20 minutes). Learners lose attention and concentration after that amount of time. Make sure parts of your content play to different types of learners - auditory as well as visual. 
• Summarize the course objectives.
• Offer references and resources that reinforce the material.
• Give final instructions on how to maintain contact hours and exit the course.

By following these three tips, you'll be on your way to creating engaging e-learning content!

Q&A from the Clinical Placement Tools Webinar

On Thursday, March 24th, Pam Taylor, PhD, RN-BC, CPHIMS, owner of Total Clinical Placement System, presented a webinar entitled "Using Clinical Placement Tools to Streamline Student Onboarding." Below are the answers to questions posed during the webinar.

Q1:  When you discuss the attestation vs. facilities collecting personal data--I'm not sure I understand. We have built in our contracts that personal information such as immunization records are stored at the school but must be made available upon request. For our access to EMR we must have student names, birthday and last 4 of SSN and we also collect emergency contact information from each student--so based on our practices are we a "blended" method for gathering student information? I'm assuming attestation decreases our risk, but we certainly need some of the information or students will not gain access to our EMR.

A1:  Access to student data can certainly be outlined by the school affiliation contracts.  The key is to make sure that when you do collect the data that it is treated as personal information and stored/discarded appropriately.  The personal data needed for EMR access is really no different that is collected on an employee. 

Q2: Does FERRPA apply to high school students’ clinical placements?

A2:  Yes, FERPA covers all ages of students.

Q3: Does the clinical placement tool support scheduling multiple sites?

A3:  Clinical Placement tools should support multiple sites.  This is a question to ask the vendor in the selection process.  TCPS PlacementPro does support multiple sites.

Q4: Are you able to schedule in and out patient environments?

A4:  Clinical Placement tools should support the in- and out-patient environments.  This is a question to ask the vendor in the selection process.  TCPS PlacementPro supports any healthcare environment.

Q5: Will you elaborate on what components of pre-implementation data to collect?

A5:  Pre-implementation data that can be useful to collect prior to implementation for data supported ROI calculations include:

• Number of clinical placements (Be sure and use a standardized definition of a clinical placement!  I traditionally use a single shift, single day, and single unit during an academic term or portion thereof for a single school as the definition.)
• Time spent approving/denying clinical placements by all involved employees
• Time spent creating reports related to clinical placements.
• Time spent on development, preparation and delivery of Student orientation by all involved employees
• Time spent on development, preparation and delivery of Faculty orientation by all involved employees 

Additional data needs could be identified based upon your target goals for implementing student onboarding tools.

Q6: Will you cover cost?  Do organizations tend to pass this cost onto the school or students?  What has been the response from schools?  Does this impact the # of schools requesting placement?

A6:  I’ve seen the cost of related to clinical onboarding tools absorbed by the facility as a community engagement/marketing/employment pipeline support line item.  I’ve also seen it passed back to the school either as a specific charge for providing clinical opportunities, or by requiring them to join a collaborative to share the cost.   How the implementation of the onboarding tools is approached (as a process to streamline placement requests and subsequent orientation requirements) with the schools can go a long way in their acceptance of the fees related to the use of technology. 

Q7: What about the CMS Inpatient Quality requirement that student's flu vaccines are required to be submitted to the facility for reporting? Would this be PHI covered by FERPA?

A7:  CMS does not require any specific student data – only the number of students (trainees) in the facility between October 1 and March 31 that had a flu vaccine, the number that had a medical waiver, and the number who declined.    Healthcare organizations collecting more information about the immunization (date, provider, lot number, etc.) pushes the data in over into the “employee record” category that must be protected under Federal guidelines for storage and disposal.

Q8: Can requests from schools be staggered based on priority schools?  Such as BSN schools scheduling,

A8: Clinical Onboarding tools should not set policy.  It is up to the facility to respond to placement requests based upon their own goals and policies.  In TCPS PlacementPro, DEUs may be identified, specific patient care areas may be designated for BSN only, etc.

Q9: Can you clarify what data needs to be collected for standard regulatory bodies?

A9:  Students in the healthcare environment present a challenge in data management since they are technically NOT employees, but are in the healthcare organization and often providing hands on patient care.  Regulatory agencies only mandate that student screening qualifications match what is done for employees.  This does not mandate data collection that is held by the healthcare organization.  Proof that the screening was done and that the data met organization criteria is sufficient for regulatory surveys.  Affiliation agreements should mandate what screenings and pre-requisites are needed that can include criminal background checks, urine drug screens, immunization records/waivers, and current CPR training.  Remember that if your affiliation agreement requires certain data to be on file with the school, then an attestation statement from the school that all data requirements are met on each student is sufficient.  If this data is transferred to the healthcare organization, remember that it must be treated as employee data, and protected/discarded appropriately since it contains sensitive information.  Student Onboarding tools can store the attestation data which is a huge time saver for the school.  Having access online to this data when The Joint Commission or State visits provides immediate access rather than waiting for the school to respond with to an audit request related to the visit.

Q10: Can you give an example of a collaborative arrangement?

A10: Collaboratives are generally formed between a group of facilities and schools (or it could one facility and the schools that send students to the facility) that come together to use a common set of clinical onboarding tools and work together to standardize related processes. I have worked with both types of collaboratives to implement onboarding tools.

Q11:  How can you implement an onboarding system like this for students when you are also required to provide staff education programs and new hire orientation?

Q11:  One of the goals for implementing clinical onboarding tools is to streamline this work so you can meet those other responsibilities.   While you may need to phase in the various tools based upon your own needs, the outcome should be decreased time spent once the system is in place.

Q12:  Does the scheduling tool keep requests private from the other school requests?

A12: Our placement scheduling tool readily shows if another request is in the system for a given placement to alert additional schools requesting the same placement that a decision between schools will have to be made if they submit the placement request.  This feature often saves time for the school and minimizes multiple requests for the same learning opportunity.