Requiring Continuing Education for Your Staff
By Carrie Rossenfeld
Certainly your employees were qualified for their positions when you hired them, but have they remained up to speed with relevant developments in the healthcare world? If not, you could be opening your practice up to a wide range of problems.
"Given the complexity of healthcare and the rapid pace of healthcare research, education for all who perform medical procedures should be a lifelong or career-long endeavor," says Dale Grube, associate dean of continuing education at the University of Kansas Medical Center Continuing Education in Kansas City, Ks.
Also, making sure staff is educated within the scopes of their job performance divides more efficiently within a practice the responsibility of remaining updated. "It is near impossible for healthcare providers that are heads-down in practice to stay current on every updated guideline, recommendation, or research on their own," says Daria Byrne, EdD, MSN, RN and clinical solutions analyst with MEDSEEK in Birmingham, Ala. "This is where continuing education comes in."
How staff education benefits you
Quite simply, continuing education is an important legal and medical safety measure for you, your practice, your staff and your patients.
"By effectively training your staff, you keep both your patients and employees protected," adds Dr. Jerry Darm, medical director for Aesthetic Medicine in Portland, Ore. "It also eliminates potential exposure to malpractice and workman comp claims."
Legal issues aside, continuing education keeps your staff motivated and growing, which translates into decreased employee turnover. "Staff turnover is both expensive and disruptive," says Amy Bernard, MS, BSN, RN-BC and director of continuing education for American Dental Institute and Western Schools in West Bridgewater, Mass. "Continuing education boosts staff confidence, morale, job satisfaction and productivity - all of which improve staff retention and performance."
Most importantly, Bernard adds, improved staff performance optimizes clinical outcomes for patients, resulting in greater patient satisfaction and heightened patient loyalty, which leads to greater pride and profitability for your practice.
What type of continuing education is best?
When considering which education measures to require of your staff, first look to your state medical and/or dental boards to see what's required and ensure that you're in compliance.Also consider basic certifications such as CPR, which may be necessary for your practice.
"Post-graduate continuing education requirements for nurses vary by state as do the requirements for pharmacists and other allied professionals," Grube says. "Health professionals should select accredited continuing education that is directly applicable to their scope of practice."
Also, it's wise for you to require your healthcare staff to get additional and/or required training on new procedures you're offering or on new equipment you're using, Grube advises.
"Look for programs or activities that will enhance job performance or practice," recommends Bernard. "Consider the direction the office practice is taking. Are there new technologies or procedures that might be incorporated into your office practice that you want staff to learn?"
And, don't forget to include employees in the decision-making process. "The employee should be involved in identifying what their needs are - what gaps in knowledge and/or skills they need to address to better meet the needs of their patients," Bernard contends.
Finally, assess your own quality gaps and identify educational opportunities and interventions that are directly relevant to addressing those gaps, Grube suggests. Seek out substantive and in-depth short courses that offer a performance-improvement component, particularly if your goal is to change your team's behavior.
Education issues to address
Time
It can be burdensome for staff to take either work or personal time out of their day to attend courses. Consider programs in which the instructor comes to your office to teach, either during lunch hour or immediately before or after hours. Online courses and e-learning that staff can complete at home are other time-saving options that can be accessed as needed so that skills remain fresh, says John A. Windsor, professor of surgery and head of the department of surgery at The University of Auckland in New Zealand.
Cost
Be sure to budget continuing education fees into the expenses of running an office. Consider it another cost of doing business that goes to strengthen the practice.
Accountability
Have your staff turn in their continuing education hours for review every six months to make sure that they don't miss deadlines for licensure, says Sylvia Wildfire, an EMT and owner of On-Call Medic/CPR Plus in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Learning styles
Some people are auditory learners, others are visual and still others are kinesthetic and need hands-on learning. Provide different educational formats for different types of learners whenever possible to allow all employees to benefit.Please visit the original article published by Carrie Roosenfeld of Medical Office Today.
