In 2020 the world was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within just two years, more than 80 million people in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, with nearly 100,000 deaths occurring. Between lockdowns, social distancing measures, and limited in-person interactions, practically every business regardless of the industry been forced to pivot from what was once “the norm” to an online or — at best — hybrid approach to ensure business continuity.
At a time when physicians, healthcare professionals, and those of both in training, are so vital to our nation’s health, and ultimately survival, it remains important to ensure future medical professionals continue to receive the training and support they need. Medical education institutions and healthcare education programs face unique challenges in ensuring students, staff, and trainees are set up for success despite increasing demands in the field and ever-evolving regulations and requirements.
With each new cohort of students and residents, educators and administrators are evolving to ensure that future healthcare professionals are trained with competence, despite the myriad of challenges caused by limited in-person interactions. Graduate Medical Education (GME) Orientations serve as the kick-off prior to coursework beginning, so the question became, how do educators transition to an online approach without sacrificing access to valuable orientation information trainees need in order to achieve success in their respective programs going forward?
We’ve collected five tips from leading Medical Education institutions across the globe who have leveraged MedHub to move their graduate medical education orientations online — as a bonus, these tips are applicable no matter the discipline of your program or institution. Here’s what they had to say:
Convert speaker presentations to learning modules within MedHub
The presentations can be PowerPoints or pre-recorded sessions. If documents or videos are too large to upload, you can add links within the requirements in order to allow trainees to access information and complete any related requirements.
Quick Tip:
Use each speaker or recorded session as a separate module. In doing so, you have visibility into each student or resident that has (or has not) completed the respective modules. As a bonus, when you set your sessions up as separate modules, your trainees will be notified when new modules are added – eliminating orientation completion lag time.
Use the resources, forms, and files sections in MedHub
Upload COVID-19 specific information or additional orientation information trainees will need to know. You can also add banners to your various modules to ensure trainees are in the know on the latest COVID-19 requirements.
Quick Tip:
The test functionality within your MedHub software platform can be used for attestation, prompting trainees to provide yes/no or true/false responses to information provided in the modules. This attestation feature puts the onus on the trainees to ensure they thoroughly understand the content presented to them.
Organize your medical education orientation packages thoughtfully
Develop a list of all orientation requirements, then arrange those orientation requirements in order of priority. From there, you can bucket tasks into phases.
For example, grouping all “critical’ requirements in Phase I will help you or your program or institution administrative staff identify the most pressing documents that need attention. Knowing Phase I translates to ‘most important’ means you and your team see the most important and earliest requirements at the top. This helps the graduate medical education (GME) office staff prioritize as they coordinate document verification.
Use the Document Matrix
Curious what percentage of orientation documents are complete? The Document Matrix gives you a clear, at-a-glance view while offering quick requirement completion statistics for reporting.
Eliminate bottlenecks by leveraging your team
Enable administrator access for the members of your team. In doing so, you are allowing other members of your GME team to either upload documents on behalf of a resident or approve documents straightaway. Another way to better leverage and empower your team is to enable faculty reviewers. More eyes (and approvers) on documents requiring verification or approval can drastically expedite the process.
Unsure of how to turn the tips above into a reality? Reach out to your Client Success Manager for support and additional ideas.
Despite the complexities of enrollment and orientation requirements, MedHub offers a truly personalized and adaptable approach to moving your orientation process online. While there’s nothing quite like the buzz and excitement of a full auditorium on orientation day, these tips can help you organize critical information, while keeping trainees, and your staff, safe.