Most clinical leaders can agree that offering comprehensive healthcare staff training is an essential element to providing high-quality care. However, due to the size and complexityof modern-day healthcare, it can be challenging for administrators to develop “one size fits all” training sessions that are applicable and meaningful to all employees.
Whether you’re creating an onboarding training program for new team members or planning educational seminars for current staff, you’ll want to ensure that the content you cover during training aligns with your organization’s goals. By creating a robust health staff training program, you can support and empower your employees to provide the best care possible.
In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of staff training in healthcare, explain how staff education can benefit your organization, and review topics that should be covered in these sessions. Then, we’ll outline five best practices to help you design a training program that’s beneficial to your clinicians and the patients they serve.
Why Is Healthcare Staff Training Important?
At a basic level, healthcare employee training allows clinical leaders the opportunity to disseminate essential information. In addition to educating team members about safe patient care practices, employee training programs can also be used to:
- Strengthen an organization’s brand image.
- Communicate professional expectations.
- Integrate new (or emerging) technology more effectively.
- Highlight company values.
Who Is Required to Pursue Staff Education in Healthcare Settings?
Some training topics are applicable to all staff members, while other subjects are only relevant to specific employees. For example, workplace safety training (like emergency procedures and plans) is often provided to all new staff, including executives, clinicians, janitorial staff, and administrators. However, in-depth HIPAA compliance training would be relevant to team members who interact directly with patients and healthcare data.
What Are the Benefits of Staff Training in Healthcare?
Effective healthcare staff training has been shown to make a significant impact on employee satisfaction and retention. Facilities that provide high-quality staff training often see lower rates of turnover and burnout. In addition to boosting employee engagement and morale, these programs can also:
- Build trust among executives, bedside clinicians, and patients.
- Reduce recruitment and onboarding costs.
- Promote a healthy workplace culture.
- Boost regulatory compliance efforts.
- Improve patient safety and satisfaction.
What Topics Should Be Covered During Healthcare Staff Training?
With this understanding of the importance of training in healthcare, you may be curious about which topics to cover during education sessions. In the table below, we list a variety of training types to incorporate into your facility’s specific staff education plan. This list is not exhaustive and can be customized to suit your team’s specific needs and concerns.
| Types of Training in Healthcare: Topics to Consider | |
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Educate new caregiver employees on how to complete basic patient care tasks. |
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Provide tips on how to care for patients with diverse backgrounds, values, customs, and languages. |
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Help clinicians handle crisis situations to maintain safety and prevent harm. |
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Teach employees how to protect patient privacy and confidentiality in the care environment. |
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Build confidence in nurse leaders and show them how to be effective in their roles. |
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Highlight the importance of providing fair and equitable care, regardless of a patient’s gender or sexual orientation. |
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Explain how to adhere to federal and state regulations when reporting suspected abuse. |
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OSHA Compliance |
Review workplace safety procedures and OSHA-mandated requirements for employers and employees. |
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Help nurses explore the strengths and weaknesses of their team to improve care delivery. |
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Developing Your Healthcare Staff Training Program: 5 Best Practices
When training programs aren’t planned appropriately, they may lack the depth and complexity needed to make an impact on care quality. In these instances, healthcare staff training (online or otherwise) becomes a “check-the-box” requirement that employees are reluctant to complete. This can make the whole experience a waste of time and effort for all involved, increasing burnout and disengagement.
Show employees that you value their professionalism and success in the workplace with engaging and enriching programs that expand their skill set. Regardless of the type of program you choose to implement — such as a simulation lab vs. an online learning module — utilizing these five best practices can make your training exciting and meaningful.
1. Poll Staff to Identify Training Needs
Before rolling out your education for healthcare professionals, you’ll want to gain insight into current care concerns or practice deficiencies. This can help you identify what information needs to be relayed to your clinical team.
The easiest way to identify health staff training needs is to ask your clinicians. One way to do this is to solicit employee feedback during shared governance council meetings. Another method would be to send out employee feedback surveys.
Example: Before developing your training program, your education team rounds on clinical units to learn about clinical concerns or problems from staff members. Many nurses express concern at the recent uptick in patient falls on the unit.
To improve patient safety, your team establishes a fall prevention training program to re-educate clinicians on how to screen for fall risk and prevent falls from occurring. Staff are excited at the opportunity to improve patient outcomes and find the training helpful and relevant to their everyday practice.
2. Provide Training Outside of Patient Care Hours
Many clinicians find it distracting to attend in-services while also juggling patient care duties. It can be helpful, therefore, to provide training programs outside of the clinical area. This allows staff the ability to focus on learning and absorbing the content rather than balancing multiple responsibilities.
Example: Your education team offers multiple cultural competency training sessions per month to allow staff to attend on a day they’re not scheduled to work a shift. Allowing employees to choose which training date and time works best for their schedule shows that you value their work-life balance and respect their competing priorities.
3. Pay Employees for Their Time
Show your team that you value their professional development by paying them their hourly salary to attend voluntary, recommended training classes. This encourages employee buy-in, giving them a financial incentive to attend training that goes beyond the mandatory minimum.
You can also allow employees to attend classes in addition to weekly shift expectations or in lieu of patient care responsibilities, depending on your facility’s staffing levels and budgetary constraints.
Example: If your facility’s nursing pay rate is $40/hour and you’re offering attendance at a new 2-hour HIPAA compliance training, notify staff that they will be paid $80 to attend the voluntary class.
4. Offer CEUs
Provide your clinicians with continuing education units (CEUs) upon completion of facility-specific healthcare staff training courses. Many state boards require a certain number of CEUs per nursing license renewal period. Therefore, paid (or free) healthcare staff training events can reduce the financial burden of continuing education costs. This can encourage attendance and help ensure that regulatory requirements for licensure and credentialing are met across the organization.
Example: Notify your respiratory therapy team that they will be receiving four CEUs for their annual OSHA training class.
5. Solicit Staff Feedback After Training Sessions
Ask employees how much they learned from the training and whether they would recommend the class to their coworkers. If you receive positive employee feedback, you can feel confident in your teaching methods. If employees have constructive criticism for the instructor or program, be sure to listen to their recommendations to improve future sessions.
Example: Distribute a feedback survey at the end of your training program to allow staff members to give feedback on your class quality. Allow the opportunity for clinicians to share recommendations for the future.
Discover More Ways to Empower Your Team
After you develop your healthcare staff training program, you may be looking for additional insights to support your multidisciplinary team. Get more expert-written tips, resources, and guides to help you enhance care quality and boost employee wellness at your organization.