1st Quarter 2009 Case Study
'Training Options – how to complete the system roll-out'
Below are some typical questions from representatives from the following institutions:
- A large multi-site hospital with no in-house training staff
- A hospital with just some training staff
- A hospital with a large in-house training department
Question 1
My institution is about to implement a new software program and has a number of facilities some large some small. Our main campus has over 1000 beds but we also have a few facilities with fewer than 200 beds. We have no in-house education dept. How do I get my staff trained?
Well, first of all, you are not alone. There are many institutions in the same boat as you. The first thing you should do is maintain a very good relationship with the software company. Secondly you may consider using a consultancy to help develop your training program. There are many companies that do this and they will work together with you to develop a training program that fits your needs. On one project that we worked on, an ‘alliance partner’ company of ours which specializes in curriculum development was called in to organize the software training implementation at a large multi-site institution. They worked together with all of the different departments at the various sites, along with the IT department and the software company to create a training implementation plan. They also created training materials and curricula for the various departments over the various stages of the software implementation. So in other words, they put together classes and class materials for the various end-user groups to take them from learning basic computer skills to using the full functionality of the software: they laid out a set of classes to take Nurse Jones from not knowing how to use a mouse through various stages of training until finally she was able to use the computer and new software in her day to day job. Other classes did the same for Dr. Smith, Radiologist Brown, Respitory therapist Armstrong etc. We were called in to execute this plan by providing appropriate software trainers across the various sites and departments to lead classes. Using this road map we worked closely with the IT department and the software company in deciding which features of the software would be taught and then activated in methodical and digestible waves across the various sites and departments. After Classroom training was complete, we provided trainers to assist during the ‘go-live’ by helping hospital staff use the new software as they worked on all of the units, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. This assistance on the units was tailored to the needs of the various departments and was monitored on a daily basis to measure the success of the program. The number of trainers was decreased incrementally until the hospital staff was able to use the new software without assistance.
This is a model your institution could use. Important things to keep in mind are (i) specific training requirements for specialized departments (ii) being realistic about how much software a person can learn in a given class to avoid overload (iii) continually monitoring the competency of the end users trained and taking on board their feedback (iv)maintaining a certain level of flexibility in your program to incorporate lessons learned (v) lastly but most importantly, managing and maintaining staff expectations of what can realistically be achieved throughout the computerization process.
Question 2
My question is similar to the previous question but our hospital does have an in house training department though not very large. Would you recommend doing anything differently?
Yes there are a few additional things that you need to consider. First you should make a realistic estimation of the band width of your education department keeping in mind any other training responsibilities they may have during the software implementation. Having done this estimation, you can then decide if in fact you need any outside training support at all. One thing to keep in mind when making this decision is how many classes will be needed to train the staff before you ‘go live’ and how long will it take the department to deliver these classes. An important consideration is to remember that you do not want to stretch out the end user classroom training too long: after people go through a class they immediately begin to forget the material, so you should try to limit the end-user training period to weeks and not to months. Otherwise the staff who went through the first classes will have forgotten the material by the time of the ‘go live’.
Another consideration is to use some additional trainers either from the software company or an outside agency to supplement your in-house staff. These additional outsourced trainers can be used either to lead classes or as proctors to your in-house trainers or they can be used to train staff in your specialized departments that your in-house staff is not able to train. Many times, especially in the lab or pharmacy the software training can be quite specific and it may make sense to call in specialized trainers for those departments.
One final issue to consider is how you are going to staff the hospital during the ‘go live’? Do you have sufficient in-house training staff to support all of the units during ‘go live’? Do you need to fly in specialists from the software company? Is it worth while developing a local pool of trainers who can provide additional support during a ‘go live’?
Question 3
I’m trying to weigh the value of the options that you have outlined so far. The difference is that at my institution we have quite a large in house training staff so I am considering doing the entire training program in house. If I do the entire training program in-house are there any special issues I should consider?
That’s excellent! It sounds like you have a lot of in-house expertise and it’s important to take advantage of it. Some things you may want to consider are again, how you are going to train your specialized departments and also, how you are going to develop your curriculum, making sure that the end-users learn the program in digestible chunks.
A last thing you may want to consider is how you plan to ‘go live’? Depending on the size of your institution you may want to consider bringing the software ‘live’ unit by unit rather than all at once. If you do decide to go live unit by unit, there are a few special areas to focus on. Some benefits of bringing the software live unit by unit is that you can monitor the success of the training program and make improvements as you proceed through the units, however you must also keep in mind that you will need to think through your policies and procedures very carefully and that everyone knows exactly what to do for patients who are transferred between live and non-live units etc. We will discuss ‘Going-Live’ later, but one key is to maintain flexibility to your program so that you can incorporate lessons learnt as the software implementation proceeds.
Closing Comments
These are some of the main issues facing hospitals as they consider their training needs for a software implementation. Of course every institution is unique and we have not been able to cover all the possibilities. If you have any user feedback or helpful comments, please feel free to share your questions / experiences by emailing james.taylor@clinicourse.com