Staying on Top of Tech: Best Practices for Training Your Medical Staff

As the head of a clinic or medical practice, you are well aware of the importance of making sure all your employees are properly trained with up-to-date standards and practices. Having well-trained staff at both the front and back of the facility can benefit the entire practice. Here are some tips on training medical staff on learning to use new technologies and equipment.

New Technology for Your Healthcare Practice

Utilizing the latest medical technology within your healthcare practice can significantly boost efficiency, but in order for it to realize its full potential, your staff needs to be up to speed on how to use it properly. Tech education should be mandatory so that your employees can use complex systems. Here are some examples of technologies that can improve your health care practice.

A patient portal: A patient portal is an online hub that allows patients to log on to the Internet and have full access to their health information through a secure website. It is essential means for a practice to achieve maximum patient engagement. It also offers an easy way for patients to stay in touch with caregivers, make appointments, set appointment reminders, request prescriptions, receive test results, and review and update personal information. Not only does a patient portal provide easy access for patients it also increases patient engagement and improves your ability, as a healthcare professional, to evaluate patient care.

Electronic health records (EHRs): By replacing your current records filing system with EHRs you can significantly increase the efficiency of your practice. Not only do EHR’s save time, reduce the risk of error, protect patient privacy, and make it easier to collate patient information, they also simplify the transferal of patient data to different healthcare facilities.

These are just two examples of how you can implement technology in your healthcare practice. The range of available medical technology goes much deeper, from remote glucose monitors and digital oxygen concentrators to breast imaging machine to ventilators. You can find out more about healthcare technologies at MindFlow Design.

Training your Staff for New Technology

Here are some tips for training your staff to make full use of technology within your healthcare facility.

Laying the foundations: The first step is to assess your staffs’ level of computer literacy.  A quick and easy way to do this is to give them a self-assessment survey to complete. This will reveal areas where employees may need additional training to fill in the gaps in their tech skills before they begin learning how to use the new systems.

Appoint in-house tech coaches: These will be full-time members of your staff who use specific technologies much of the time and therefore have an intimate knowledge of the systems. These employees can be on hand to help other, less experienced members of staff who may need some initial assistance.

Make sure all training is relevant: When you introduce a new technological appliance or system, give your staff an overview so that everyone is aware of its benefits. However, don’t fall into the trap of information overload. There’s no need to provide your employees with information they will never use. Train your people to be expert at the specific tasks they will be doing with the technology instead of wasting time training them to do everything. When people learn things they do not put into practice right away, they will soon be forgotten.

Step by step training: Initial training should be focused on instructing staff on how to perform their regular day-to-day tasks. Then as they become more capable, they can move on to more complex tasks. Don’t overstrain their tasks or they will quickly become frustrated. Use a wide range of different training strategies so that employees stay interested in the learning program. As well as in-house training, implement online classes and webinars.

Schedule regular training and testing: Once you’ve decided which members of staff need to be trained, integrate these events on your clinic’s calendar as part of your regular work schedule. Introduce new updates and changes and necessary. Implement a brief test upon completion of each training segment.

Technology can transform the quality of your clinical practice. Remember to use the types of technology that are beneficial for your particular medical practice and the patients you treat. Keep your medical staff up-to-date with their training so that your healthcare facility is always running efficiently and you are providing the best possible care for all your patients.

Benjamin Lamb has been working as a staff trainer for several years, mostly working within the medical and healthcare industries.