Focus on Learning

Train and retain an effective staff

In this era of shortages in many areas of healthcare staffing, recruitment is becoming an ongoing affair, because organizations often find it hard to retain the staff that they hire. Given this high turnover and mounting economic pressures, some healthcare organizations are reluctant to spend additional funds on educational programs. After all, why go through the hassle of training people if they are just going to leave?

Yet, studies have shown that the opportunity for professional development is one of the factors that help retain healthcare staff. This is especially true in the area of internal promotion. Employees cite the practice of promoting from within as one of the most effective ways to get them to stay, and organizations that adhere to this philosophy often experience lower turnover.

To create a good pool of candidates for internal promotion, however, you have to train them. In the absence of formal training programs, healthcare staffers must rely on the informal, baptism-by-fire method of learning. Thrust into such a chaotic, unsupportive environment, staff members can get burned out quickly and start looking elsewhere for employment. In addition, the lack of formal training can sabotage organizations’ efforts to meet increasingly strict patient-safety standards.

While formal training programs do incur expenses, balancing these costs against ongoing recruitment costs, lost productivity, decreased morale and increased risk to the patient, the choice to establish and maintain effective training programs is clear.

All training programs, regardless of type, will benefit from a few key preparation steps:

Examine Your Organization’s Particular Needs
In an ideal scenario, managers would have the time and resources to address every training issue immediately. Unfortunately, in the fast-paced world of health care, management needs to prioritize the training that it offers, so that the most crucial needs are met first. To assess these needs, figure out what issues are increasing your risk factors the most and which technologies, procedures or guidelines are the most vital to have your staff learn.

Solicit Input From Staff
Nothing is worse than trying to train a group of staff members that does not want to be there. When training is thrust on employees unexpectedly, they may view it as yet one more task — like paperwork — that cuts into their handson time with patients. Help guard against this resistance by sending out a brief survey, offering some suggested training topics and asking for others.

Offer a Range of Times
The most effective training sessions are those that are held at a convenient time for employees. Avoid holding sessions near a shift change, as the staff members who are just coming off of their shift will be tired and not very receptive to learning. Consider offering brown-bag style sessions during scheduled lunch or dinner breaks.

Types of Training Programs
Formal staff training programs generally come in two forms, new employee orientation and in-service training designed to teach skills or procedures to existing staff. While both are important, give special emphasis to your orientation. Like the interview, it gives employees one of their first impressions of their new workplace. Hold an effective orientation, and you have taken an all-important step in increasing the chances of retaining that employee. Without an effective orientation, employees may leave before ever having the chance to make it to in-service training.

No matter what type of training you are planning, you can greatly increase your chances of success by following these simple tips:

Set Goals
Once you have isolated the topics that you plan to cover, establish goals for each training session, and communicate these goals to the participants at the beginning of each session.

Pay attention to physical concerns such as lighting, sound and seating. If possible, reserve an executive-style conference room. If feasible, consider holding the training session outside. The more comfortable you make your audience, the more receptive they will be to learning.

Incorporate Variety
Traditional modes of teaching, where an instructor bombards students with fact after fact, are now seen as largely ineffective. The human brain is more suited to interaction, and your audience will likely retain the information better if you design your training around this concept. In addition, people have different learning styles. Some are visual learners, some learn better by hearing information and some prefer hands-on activities. Address all of these audiences by incorporating some of the following ideas:

• Break information into modules, and keep these modules as small as possible
• Use visual aids such as PowerPoint presentations, overhead transparencies and presentation boards
• Offer handouts that participants can use to follow the discussion
• Encourage participation from the beginning, and offer a formal Q&A session at the end
• Break participants into small groups to discuss topics in greater detail
• If possible, break the training into a classroom portion and a hands-on portion, where participants can put new skills into practice
• Make training fun by using icebreakers, games and role-playing

Explore E-learning Opportunities

Organizations with computer facilities should consider hosting multimedia-based training where participants can follow along during the session. In addition, you may want to invest in CD or online packages and services, and encourage employees to use these resources outside of the training session. Many vendors offer software packages that address common issues in health care, such as infection control and hepatitis awareness. In addition, some certification courses are available online.

Maintain a Positive Attitude

While some training sessions may, by necessity, address negative issues such as ????

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