Traditionally, health education has taken place in a classroom or clinical setting and relied on physical demonstrations and good old-fashioned notetaking. However, we have seen firsthand how technology development and the extensive use of digital materials have brought additional benefits to teaching and learning. Learning management systems (LMS), for example, not only benefit higher education institutions but also help address the needs and requirements of hospitals, medical practices, and healthcare organizations.
Let’s explore some of the benefits and efficiencies an LMS offers the healthcare industry
1. Provides Flexible Learning Experiences
One of the greatest advantages of an LMS for healthcare is that it supports flexibility. This helps users set their own schedules, as opposed to traditional learning environments that can confine them to specific times and settings. The flexibility feature of an LMS plays an important role in healthcare, considering the demanding nature of this industry.
For example, in an LMS, content, materials, and assessments can be uploaded to a course learning shell, where users can access them through a computer or mobile device whenever they have free time at work or at home. This type of flexible and self-paced learning helps healthcare students and professionals review the information at their leisure. This accommodative feature stimulates feelings of autonomy and responsibility and offers alternatives for knowledge acquisition.
2. Eases Compliance Training
In the health industry, compliance training is an ongoing process used to educate employees about their compliance responsibilities as well as changes in regulations. An LMS has different functionalities and capabilities to help measure the success of compliance training programs.
For example, an LMS can use different learning data rather than simply focusing on passing and failing grades to determine learner success such as attendance, credit load, time to complete, and level of engagement. This system also measures course completion by seeing whether a user views all content topics in a course, completes all assessment activities, earns specific competencies or learning objectives, and more.
It’s not enough for healthcare professionals and students to simply complete training. It’s important to also know whether they are understanding and applying new knowledge. An LMS helps support this concept and create a culture of compliance.
3. Supports Continuing Professional Development
In addition to easing compliance training, an LMS can help support continuing professional development (CPD) programs. CPD programs use both formal and informal learning activities to help healthcare-related development of knowledge, skills, attitudes, behavior, and overall improvement of patient outcomes. However, it can be difficult to organize professional development programs in person to support healthcare professionals and learners.
An LMS offers innovative methods to create continuing professional development without constraining time or budgets. For example, modules or learning paths can be built within an LMS to provide healthcare professionals with an organized and efficient way to progressively build knowledge on a particular topic or program. This can be used to not only develop medical competence courses but help build critical skills for healthcare professionals, such as team building and communication. An LMS used for CPD programs can also provide users with certificates for their learning, making this experience more interactive.
Learn What to Look for in a New Learning Management System
Watch as we dig beneath the surface with Dr. Christopher Sessums, director of academic affairs at D2L, and two industry professionals from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia—Robert McCunney, senior instructional designer, and Svetlana Lyutsko, instructional designer—to find out what went into their decision-making processes as they opted to switch their LMS to D2L Brightspace.
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