E-learning and LMS blog articles

Working in a demanding, fast-paced environment, healthcare professionals are faced with new challenges and testing circumstances every day. But with e-learning technology, these daily challenges need not be related to L&D. Healthcare organisations like the NHS can lessen the obstacles faced by their staff by overcoming L&D challenges and streamlining training practices. In this blog, we’ll discuss how NHS e-learning for healthcare professionals can be used to achieve this.

Looking for more healthcare-focused e-learning resources? Visit our FREE healthcare LMS hub.

Scheduling conflicts preventing training

No two weeks are the same for NHS workers. Changing shift patterns and monthly rotas present a significant challenge for managers wishing to deliver scheduled training sessions to NHS staff. For example, an NHS trust with hundreds of nursing staff working on different days and at varying hours will find it impossible to gather all members of staff together at once to deliver a face-to-face training session or lecture. Of course, the next step would be to break up teams and deliver multiple training sessions to employees with similar shift patterns. But this brings with it a significant increase in associated costs - particularly if an external training professional is leading the session.

To overcome scheduling challenges, NHS organisations can deliver autonomous and self-paced learning with an e-learning platform - giving employees the freedom to complete training when it best suits them. As a result, nursing staff members can be easily assigned virtual training activities that cover appropriate subject matter and training outcomes. This training can be delivered in a way that doesn’t impose on other employee schedules. Staff members simply need to log onto the platform when they have the time and complete the required training at their own pace.

Discover the benefits of asynchronous learning for your employees.

Managing employee wellbeing in a demanding environment

Working in a high-pressure environment, healthcare staff are at risk of burnout and poor workplace wellbeing. NHS e-learning for healthcare professionals can help create a supportive environment, providing employees with resources that mitigate the risk of poor employee wellbeing.

NHS teams must ensure staff members are well-educated on wellbeing practices and policies. With this information, NHS workers are better positioned to seek out help and identify any causes for concern. For example, those in leadership roles can be assigned to online training courses that help managers lead conversations with compassion and support.

What’s more, by using an e-learning platform such as an LXP or LMS, social features such as discussion boards, polls and forums can be used to encourage open dialogue between staff across an entire NHS trust or organisation. In using these tools, NHS leaders can create a culture of openness and honesty around wellbeing whilst gaining insights on how they can better support their staff members.

What is an LXP? Read our ultimate guide to find out.

Monitoring employee training across large, dispersed teams

With many NHS trusts serving a large geographical area, it can be challenging for management teams to monitor employee training when carried out offline or with outdated training systems. In a highly regulated industry with strict compliance practices, healthcare teams simply can’t afford to risk non-compliance due to incomplete training.

When employees are accessing the same centralised e-learning platform such as an LMS, administrators can take advantage of comprehensive reporting tools to create custom-built reports that gather training data from staff members across the entire trust. In contrast to other methods of monitoring training, such as verbal communication or sifting through training paperwork, LMS reporting is far and above the most reliable way to ensure that training is being completed by NHS staff. LMS reports can be configured to provide insights into who has or hasn’t completed training on an individual or departmental basis, incorporating details on time taken to complete training, assessment grades and course completion rates.

LMS Reporting: Visit our functionality page to find out everything you need to know.

Motivating busy staff to complete training

It can be a significant challenge for managers to motivate busy healthcare staff to complete training, particularly if the subject matter is overly complicated or unengaging. Fortunately, NHS e-learning for healthcare can be transformed with support from various engaging content types and LMS features.

For busy NHS staff who only have time to learn in the flow of work, microlearning is the perfect form of e-learning training content. As microlessons are broken up into small, digestible chunks of content that typically take less than fifteen minutes to consume, staff members can break larger training courses into multiple sessions. Rather than struggling to find a solid hour that can be dedicated to L&D, they can learn in the flow of work – giving them a much higher chance of completing vital training activities.

For employees who are reluctant to complete training due to a lack of interest in its subject matter, which can be the case all too often when it comes to poorly designed regulatory compliance training courses, administrators can transform training content by utilising engaging content types and gamification techniques. With features such as badges, leaderboards, and game-like mechanics incorporated into the lessons, NHS teams can expect higher levels of engagement as employees are motivated by a sense of team competition.

Another way organisations can motivate healthcare workers is by using real use cases to exemplify the consequences brought about by poor knowledge and a lack of key skills. This can be achieved with content types such as branching scenarios, which require learners to work their way through a real-life problem in a virtual environment. With this content type, the choices a learner makes will determine the content they see next and drive the overall outcome of the scenario. By using this, healthcare staff will have a better understanding of the real-life impact that training will have on their daily roles and tasks.

Top tips for including gamification in your L&D strategy – read our blog.

Tackling challenges around limited budgets

It’s no secret that healthcare organisations often face pressure and challenges around limited budgets, making it difficult to prioritise effectual L&D and training practices and solutions. However, investments in NHS e-learning for healthcare organisations can help save costs further down the line, thus boosting the ROI of training initiatives as a result.

With multiple departments within one NHS trust, each in need of its own training procedures, content, plans and environments, providing an e-learning platform to each department can incur significant costs. However, with a multi-tenant LMS, administrators can create separate tenant sites for each department, acting as a unique training environment that can be tailored to individual L&D needs.

Large healthcare organisations with tight budgets can often fall victim to poor communication among departments. For example, an HR team that has been using the same online system for years is unaware that they could expand the current system used by the L&D team to create a single solution that serves both functions of the organisation – such as a TXP. Rather than paying for two separate hosted solutions, often from different hosting providers, healthcare organisations can save costs with a single TXP, using LMS and LXP functionality to support training, along with performance management tools to support HR practices.

What’s more, with a cost-effective Hubken solution, NHS organisations can benefit from unlimited support, enhanced UX, version upgrades included as standard, a comprehensive video training library, and much more. Get to know our HubkenCore package to find out more.

What is HubkenCore? Discover our complete e-learning solution.

We’re already helping healthcare organisations like yours overcome significant challenges while effectively supporting L&D and HR functions. Deliver powerful NHS e-learning for healthcare professionals in your organisation today by getting in touch with our e-learning experts or visit our free healthcare hub to find out more about how e-learning can transform your L&D.