Compliance with regulations is only possible when all clinical and non-clinical staff members have the proper training and support. Overlooking the importance of staff education in healthcare can make it difficult for leaders and employees to keep up with constant regulatory changes.
Proper healthcare staff training and education contributes to better health outcomes, greater confidence and morale among staff, significant cost savings, and more efficient operations. What follows are the ways staff education and training contribute to efficiency and effectiveness in patient care. We also explore how a learning management system (LMS) for healthcare can support your policy management goals by providing a structured, intuitive approach to staff education.
Maintain Regulatory Compliance
Non-compliance with just one regulation can put patients’ health and organizational operations at risk. It can also result in costly fines, a tarnished reputation, and exclusion from essential federal programs like Medicare. Your organization can avoid these consequences by keeping staff education updated and tailored to all employees’ job descriptions and needs. Creating courses, in a LMS, that reinforce policies and procedures is effective at boosting staff compliance.
Enhance Patient Satisfaction and Reduce Liability
Staff training increases customer satisfaction by giving employees the skills to provide consistently positive experiences for patients, families, vendors, co-workers, and others who interact with your organization. Properly trained staff are also more motivated to invest in your organization’s success, underscoring the importance of staff education in healthcare.
Furthermore, happy patients are less likely to bring malpractice and other personal injury claims against your healthcare organization. Staff education helps employees avoid mistakes that could expose your organization to liability, workplace hazards, and other risks.
Address the Nursing Shortage
Another reason for the importance of staff education in healthcare is keeping the hardworking nurses you currently have. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of registered nurses (RNs) in the U.S. dropped by more than 100,000. Experts predict a shortage of almost 79,000 nurses by 2025. Due partly to the increasingly aging U.S. population, the healthcare industry will continue to see a drastic shortage of nurses and other crucial healthcare providers.
Nurses are less likely to leave their jobs or switch careers when they receive training that provides clear expectations for performing their duties. Excellent nurses and healthcare providers need thorough and updated training to be successful and experience job satisfaction.
Foster a Culture of Compliance
An organization with a strong compliance culture embodies a commonly shared set of behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs about regulatory standards and requirements in healthcare. An education and training curriculum can foster such a culture by covering the importance of best practices and how employees can apply compliance standards daily. Effective staff education shows staff how to incorporate compliant behaviors into their routines while identifying and mitigating risks to safety and security.
How a Learning Management System Supports Healthcare Staff Training
Effective staff education in healthcare requires an investment of resources to equip employees with the highest-level skills in patient care and meet federal requirements. To this end, a learning management system (LMS) can streamline your healthcare organization’s training and education and support your employees’ professional development.
MCN Solutions (formerly MCN Healthcare) LMS for healthcare is web-based and offers continuous learning that helps staff stay on top of regulatory requirements. CE and non-CE course libraries are available. With our intuitive LMS, you can develop training modules, assign courses to appropriate staff, track progress, and create reports on training outcomes and learning gaps. With automated tracking and alerts, you can designate more time for more complex operations and reduce staff burdens.
The newest feature of our LMS is electronic skills assessment, designed for nursing and other clinical and non-clinical roles. Skills assessments ensure the highest quality of care, promote professional development, and optimize efficiency within teams and throughout the organization.
With our electronic skills assessment tool, your organization can perform the following functions:
- Create courses, quizzes, and attestations
- Create digital skills assessments that reduce or eliminate the need for paper copies
- Assign users, evaluators and, and managers, to specific assessments
- Send email reminders about upcoming training, skills assessment, or certification renewals
- Produce reports to identify educational gaps
- Provide learner transcripts
- Provide accreditation and specialized training in one virtual location
With patient care and regulatory compliance at stake, it is impossible to underestimate the importance of staff education in healthcare. With software and guidance from MCN Solutions, your organization can provide a training framework that upholds the highest standards. For more information about our LMS including our new electronic skills assessment, contact us today for more information and schedule a demo.