Many healthcare IT budgets are being cut due to organizations’ financial circumstances. As a result, leaders are facing major challenges as they attempt to train existing staff. Through conversations with industry leaders, I’ve developed some thoughts regarding an era of training when every dollar is being scrutinized. These concepts are not new, but they can serve as a helpful reminder of the resources that are readily available to most of us.
First, I have to stress that any team leader must assess what skills and knowledge their people will need in the midst of their organization’s evolution. No organization will look the same a year from now as it does today, so it’s imperative for leaders to envision their organization of the future and make sure that budgets are in place to support the necessary evolution.
In the meantime, be sure to keep these tips in mind . . .
Establish your own virtual training network: Start by identifying experts on your staff or among your professional network. Have these experts create resources to assist with basic issues, from how to work from home effectively to more specialized solutions that can be shared with a select few team members. These training resources can be created in the form of documents, PowerPoints, or quick videos, which can be easily distributed. An internal webinar is typically very useful, as questions can be answered in real time and then saved for distribution to new team members.
Industry associations: If your team members have not joined industry association groups, they should, because these groups can be a great, affordable place to network with other association members for any specialized information they may need. Also, association websites “resource” libraries of white papers, not to mention other archived documents and videos that many find valuable.
YouTube: This resource actually came as a surprise to me, since I don’t consider the video-streaming platform to be an authoritative source of information. In fact, according to industry leaders, using YouTube as a resource can be both good and bad. As we all know, the platform contains a tremendous amount of information. If you’re looking for general information on virtually any topic, it can be a great place to start. However, as you deep-dive into more specific information, be sure to cross-check with a variety of resources to ensure that the information you find is actually credible.
Podcasts: As with YouTube, podcasts can be a great, broad resource for information, since there are literally thousands of them on virtually any topic. They can provide general industry information or help to build a foundation for new initiatives that need to be considered — and potentially implemented — within healthcare today.
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