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Maximizing Reach in MedTech: How HealthStream Amplifies Your Training Impact

May 28th, 2024
May 28th, 2024

A recent HealthStream webinar provided insights on how the MedTech community can leverage HealthStream’s network of learning resources and technology to improve medical product training and enhance retention. The webinar was moderated by HealthStream’s Daniel Pawlus and featured presenters:

  • Lisbeth Votruba, MSN, RN, Chief Clinical Officer, AvaSure
  • Wendy Popma-Breen, BSN, BS, RN, Manager of Clinical Implementation Services, AvaSure
  • Shanti Gangadharan, Associate Vice President, Product Management, HealthStream
  • Angie Harville, Director of National Accounts, HealthStream

Leveraging a Single Platform for All Training

Gangadharan acknowledged that education plays a vital role in enhancing patient outcomes. In addition, many MedTech organizations have a need to distribute their training and education to a network of their end users.  “HealthStream is a differentiator in that we have the largest network of professionals accessing a single platform for all types of education and training,” said Gangadharan.

AvaSure is a leader in providing virtual monitoring technology that is capable of keeping both patients and nurses safe. It lowers the cost of care, while freeing staff to provide additional care. AvaSure recognizes the importance of a strong implementation and go live for new technology resources. They need safe and efficient processes for training their end users. In addition, they found that the improved, streamlined training resulted in improved retention amongst their own clinical educators.  

Considerations for Your Education Partnership

Votruba shared insights into what was important to AvaSure as they looked to develop a relationship with a training partner. AvaSure provides the technology and devices that are used for patient monitoring and that includes the software and infrastructure that supports that technology. The hospital has its own staff that uses the technology so AvaSure needs a strong partnership to work through the change management process when the new technology is introduced.

Prior to their partnership with HealthStream, Votruba admitted that they had a user manual and procedures for providing education to healthcare organizations, but it required a lot of resources – from both AvaSure and their healthcare partners. They had a week that was dedicated to the go live portion of the implementation and that followed a 10-week implementation process. They had to rely on their healthcare partners to download the software, find sufficient space for training rooms, schedule staff for hands-on training and provide a sufficient number of software licenses. In short, it was cumbersome and inefficient for AvaSure and for their partners.

Streamlining the process to provide the implementation virtually saved time, provided a better learning experience for their users, and used fewer traveling educators. In short, HealthStream and AvaSure partnered to provide a solution that was more efficient, more effective and less costly.

Better Education, Better Partnerships – A Positive Impact

Votruba went on to address the impact of the relationship with HealthStream. She described the now 8-year-old partnership as smooth from the beginning. AvaSure’s hospital partners were happy that they were being relieved of the burden of preparing and executing the training. Healthcare organizations were already familiar with and confident in HealthStream and AvaSure found that offering learning modules as part of their service to their clients helped to set them apart in the marketplace. It also reduced the number of traveling educators required as the learning modules could more efficiently and effectively address the training required during the implementation and beyond.

Maximizing ROI

AvaSure’s products are nurse driven so it is essential that they understand the “why” behind the technology. “They need to see the value and we need to get their buy-in,” said Popma-Breen. The sooner that buy-in is achieved, the sooner the partner will begin to see a return on their investment.

AvaSure and their healthcare partners begin by building awareness of the new technology. The learning modules are then uploaded to their system right away. There are a total of 6 interactive eLearning modules that are offered pre - and post-launch. Partners are able to monitor how many staff have taken the modules. When hospitals have strong participation in advance, the onsite portion of the education is more effective as onsite educators can spend less time on the basics which have already been covered allowing them to focus more on policy, processes, and workflow to advance the implementation.

If course completions are any indication, AvaSure and their healthcare partners are finding the modules helpful. “So many individuals know about AvaSure because of the eLearning modules,” said Popma-Green. Reporting on course completions by hospital and across all AvaSure customers is available and reports can be filtered by time period as well. Popma-Breen shared that there has been a substantial amount of growth year after year in the number of people completing the courses. For example, nearly 345,000 students have taken the introductory course through the end of 2023.

Implementation Advice for MedTech Companies

Votruba shared her thoughts when asked what advice she would give to MedTech companies that may be considering using HealthStream for their training and educational content. She urged MedTech companies to remember that even though they may have a technology that sounds like the perfect solution and works well, it still needs customer adoption in order to be successful. This will likely require education that will support change management while changing attitudes and behaviors.

She also encouraged MedTech companies to be sensitive to the significant workforce issues currently facing healthcare organizations. Their customers will likely need ways in which to effectively onboard new employees throughout the year. In addition, she pointed out the importance of being nimble. During the pandemic, it was difficult to add new use cases and users, but by partnering with HealthStream, they were able to create an eLearning module that was more of an elbow tool. It was shorter and more adaptable to the learner’s needs.

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