Digital Healthcare Training
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the globe, most industries are facing unprecedented challenges. The healthcare industry is no different. Hospitals are struggling to find additional beds, ventilators, and creating new space for patients. Amid all this, hospitals have started relying on digital healthcare training modalities to protect patients and healthcare workers from contracting the disease. Remote monitoring, telehealth platforms, and Artificial Intelligence(AI)-powered assessment apps and devices have become the new norms.
Following are some ways hospitals are leveraging digital healthcare training to educate their staff as well as patients.
1. Synchronized Just-In-Time Digital Healthcare Training
In order to prevent and reduce coronavirus exposure to emergency first responders and other hospital staff members (who are at higher contraction risk through their work duties), hospitals are offering synchronized just-in-time digital training in the form of micro-learning videos and simulations.Some popular training topics are:
- How to monitor patients for signs and symptoms of COVID-19
- How to keep patients, visitors, and healthcare professionals safe by using correct infection control practices including proper hand hygiene and selection and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- How to properly clean and disinfect environmental surfaces and equipment
- Recommended actions for unprotected exposure (e.g., not using recommended PPE or an unrecognized infectious patient contact)
2. Telehealth and Telemedicine Training
Telehealth and telemedicine have undoubtedly become mainstream during this period of crisis. Hospitals have been very quick to train their doctors and nurses to adjust to this change, as patients are now more accepting of this comparatively safer and more convenient form of care.
Doctors and nurses are virtually trained on topics like,
- Telemedicine modes- audio, video, chat, store-and-forward, Prescription of drugs over telemedicine
- Using technology to conduct nursing and deliver care from a remote location, Monitoring a patient’s oxygen levels, heart rate, respiration, blood glucose, and more in a telenursing setting.
- Patient safety and informed consent in telemedicine
3. Augmented and Virtual Reality for Healthcare Training
Hospitals have increased the use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to train patients and healthcare professionals in slowing down and preventing deadly outbreaks.
For instance, there is specialized AR/VR training being designed for pathological scenarios, which is immensely useful. New AR innovations are helping doctors and surgeons to diagnose, treat, and perform surgeries on their patients more accurately by giving them access to real-time data and patient information faster. With the help of AR/VR, doctors can precisely study their patients’ anatomy by entering their MRI data and CT scans into an AR/VR headset and overlay specific patient anatomy on top of their body before actually treating them.
4. Nudge Learning
In the current situation, sharing updated and accurate information with required stakeholders as quickly as possible, is crucial. Hospitals are looking at smart tools to nudge their staff on latest safety measures, updates on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), government regulations, and other best practices. These nudges are basically short micro-learning nuggets which use various media elements (image, text, audio, or video). Nudge learning can also be used to reinforce learning from critical training modules by quizzing the learners and redirecting them to a micro-learning video or a course in case they answer incorrectly. For example, if a nurse takes a quiz on donning and doffing of PPE and gets a step wrong, they will be redirected to a video to correct their understanding.
With no clear end to the COVID- 19 crisis in sight, hospitals are strategically evaluating innovative approaches to fuel their digital training initiatives. Are you working in a hospital? What digital training initiatives have you being working on? Write to me at contact@harbingergroup.com to initiate a discussion.
