Here's How Mayo Clinic Is Going All in with Online Training
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Digital training methods have become increasingly popular in the last few years. Not only can providing your staff with ways to learn digitally improve engagement with training programs, but it can also boost the effectiveness of those programs as well.
First is the effect eLearning has on productivity. Training provided through digital means requires on average 40-60% less time than learning the same material in a traditional classroom setting, meaning as much as five times the content can be assimilated in the same amount of time. Retention rates can be as little as 8-10% in the classroom compared to 25-60% via eLearning and an engagement rate of 18% more. Every dollar invested in online training results in 30 dollars of productivity, and 42% of companies have stated that eLearning has led to an increase in revenue.
There is clearly much to be gained from employing eLearning compared to traditional methods, and Mayo Clinic is just one brand that has invested heavily in the concept.
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic employs more than 3,800 full-time research personnel — including 234 full-time science faculty and 740 physicians actively involved in research. It also has more than 65,000 other employees, including a wide variety of clinical and allied health staff, and Mayo Clinic's College of Medicine and Science has more than 4,000 active students and trainees.
That adds up to an awful lot of ongoing training that needs to be arranged and facilitated. Mayo Clinic needed a way to not only make this happen but also simultaneously demystify clinical research and boost productivity.
Mayo Clinic achieves this through two online courses designed to help people take their first steps in the world of research — Fundamentals of Clinical and Translational Science (FunCaTS) and Essentials of Clinical and Translational Science (ECaTS). Each is structured to take the multitude of people who come to Mayo Clinic — with their huge range of experience and education — and give them the chance to build a foundation in research which will allow them to make valuable contributions to the development of new medical technologies, treatments, and cures.
"We want to make sure we are providing a solid foundation for all of our residents, regardless of background, so they can be successful in their future research activities," said Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Amy Oxentenko, M.D. This is backed up by Director of Pharmacy Education at Mayo Clinic, Garrett Schramm, R.Ph., who states, "I think some people can get intimidated by the idea of research. They may feel uncertain of their knowledge and abilities or may have had previous negative experiences. Research training helps set the stage and demystifies the process."
The ability to read and understand scientific research is an important skill for those working in the field of healthcare and medical research — and arguably for everyone else as well — and these two online training courses are helping Mayo Clinic's people hit the ground running in this regard.
Medical Education
Another way Mayo Clinic is facilitating online learning is through a partnership with media platform GIBLIB. Through this partnership, Mayo Clinic will be making its medical conference lectures available to medical professionals, as well as crafting new content such as educational videos and on-demand lectures.
The platform will use 360-degree virtual reality videos to make people feel like they're there in the classroom. It will also deploy advanced data analytics to establish which content is the most engaged with and develop new modules based on that information.
"The medical world continues to advance in its adoption of new technologies, yet the way medical professionals learn and engage with educational and instructional content remains stagnant," said GIBLIB Cofounder and CEO, Brian Conyer. "Medical education content has always been informative but must be equally engaging and accessible to deliver meaningful value to medical professionals. By working with Mayo Clinic, we are helping medical professionals worldwide learn from some of the most forward-thinking, sought-after surgeons and physicians at the top-ranked hospital in the world."
The virtual reality technology being employed by GIBLIB is particularly interesting as it could potentially enable surgery training to be delivered in a manner that allows students to simulate operations — without any risk to the patient.
Final Thoughts
Innovative online eLearning platforms are helping brands in almost every industry carry out training in a way that is more convenient, engaging, effective, and profitable. The healthcare industry is no exception and it's great to see Mayo Clinic deploying so many different methods to help train the next generation of medical professionals.
You can join Mayo Clinic's Bill Hodson, Director of HR Advisory, at HR Healthcare 2020 this June at the Hyatt Regency Austin, TX, to discuss more ways to boost your team's performance.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.
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