How To Meet Healthcare Training Requirements in Less Time

Katlyn Holtvluwer
Doctor walking fast in hospital

Many healthcare organizations are losing hundreds of productivity hours each calendar year through healthcare training programs that aren’t required. If a company has 100 employees who complete two unnecessary hours of training, that is 200 hundred hours of lost labor per year. 

Identifying training that is required versus recommended can help to highlight what is most urgent and what can be staggered throughout the calendar year. Eliminate more unnecessary time using a learning management system (LMS) to provide organized and role-specific training modules.

Even though healthcare compliance training sessions are mandatory for keeping staff updated with regulations and ensuring high-quality patient care a variety of issues stand in the way of their completion. Current training modules are another task on providers lengthy to-do lists. Issues like lack of time set aside, boring or confusing content, or materials that feel repetitive or irrelevant to staff’s specific job often play a role in the lack of completion in these trainings, leaving administrators to send out constant reminders. This is because many of these training plans are not designed effectively and they ultimately lead to physician burn-out. That’s why implementing a LMS is a great step towards increasing productivity while decreasing training hours.

How To Design an Effective Compliance Training Program

A training plan should be consolidated, adaptive, and manageable (C.A.D.). 

  • Consolidated: Having a plan that is consolidated means that it addresses multiple requirements whether that is at the state or federal level or even your accreditation requirements. Key topics should be identified for training to make the most out of training hours. 
  • Adaptive: An adaptive plan is also important because it is easy to review and modify to meet requirements while not drastically increasing the time and duration of training. 
  • Doable: Most importantly, you want to make sure your training plan is doable. From a revenue and provider burnout perspective, your plan should not be adding an unfeasible amount of hours to your staff’s work week. By consolidating your company’s training process, you not only improve the chances of passing audits, accreditations, and inspections but also set the stage for better quality improvements and increased revenue.

See how a well-constructed training plan can make a significant difference in achieving compliance and how your company operates while helping to save you time on training in the future. Register for the webinar here.

Tips To Avoid Compliance Training Burnout While Meeting Regulations

Tip #1: Limit Training To Role Requirements

Organizing your staff by specific roles and identifying hazards for those roles, can help save time when it comes to training. 

For example, staff handling specialized equipment such as MRI machines or X-ray machines, are required to take radiation safety training. Supplementing a 15-minute refresher on how other staff members who are in the vicinity of radiation can keep themselves safe can ensure your liabilities are covered, while not wasting time on extra training not needed.   

Tip #2: Meet Multiple Requirements With One Course

Planning ahead and consolidating key topics provides an opportunity to make your training plan as efficient as possible. Many requirements for state and federal regulations, accreditations, and staff licensing overlap significantly. Identifying where this training overlaps can help to shave off time. Carefully choosing continuing education courses that also meet regulatory requirements can help healthcare organizations create efficiencies and improve overall staff satisfaction.

Some topics have significant overlap in the healthcare field. Topics like infection prevention and control or cultural competency are often required by federal, state, and accreditation organizations, so having one course that meets all three will be a huge time saver.

Tip #3: Plan Ahead To Meet Requirements

Staggering training throughout the year will help to meet deadlines. Looking for times in your organization’s schedule where there may be a low work volume can help to make sure employees are not overwhelmed. Then topic-specific training can be consolidated for refreshers down the line.

For example, OSHA training is done once and may take around eight to nine hours. If you maintain clear documentation of this training being completed, then to meet annual requirements, employees can complete an hour-long refresher course.

Tip #4: Create Operational Efficiencies

Creating operational efficiencies for your training plans can save time and resources. Operational efficiencies often come from using a learning management system (LMS) like MedTrainer. Operational efficiencies streamline processes. 

Assigning tiered permissions, grouping related modules together, and even having high visibility on training progress can all help your company to work more efficiently on training.

Tip #5: Be Intentional With Content

Training content should be healthcare specific and organized in a way that is not adding a plethora of hours into staff’s busy schedules. Having content that is intentional and interactive, something that MedTrainer works hard to provide through their LMS, will help with retention and take-aways. 

This could be done by having a post training test that needs to be passed in order for the training to be marked successfully completed.

Tip #6: Increase Efficiency With Data

Documenting training well can help save your company time. Easy access to training records increases efficiency for audits and provides historical documentation of staff’s completed training. 

Many providers work in multiple locations, so having up-to-date and accurate data can help save time on training that they may have completed prior.

Why Choose a Healthcare LMS To Meet Training Requirements in Less Time

A well-designed LMS can reduce employee burnout and streamline required compliance training. By consolidating training hours, developing a plan that is adaptive to ever-changing regulations, and making sure the training you assign is doable you’ll be setting up your company for success. These steps will not only increase retention of training but help alleviate provider burnout, leading to a more successful team in the future. Utilizing an LMS will be helpful not only for management but staff as well as they can see progress being made on training bundles and directly how these trainings relate to their specific roles. 

MedTrainer is one of few systems that cater specifically to healthcare and has held the top spot in the G2 healthcare learning management system Usability Index for four quarters in a row. With an in-house content creation process, MedTrainer has complete control over the content, along with the healthcare regulatory expertise to keep courses up-to-date no matter how quickly requirements change. All MedTrainer courses are created and/or vetted by healthcare subject matter experts, delivering high-quality training that is relevant to your staff’s needs. State and industry regulations are also reviewed multiple times each year by industry, to ensure they are being met. 

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Webinar: Tips To Efficiently Meet Healthcare Training Requirements