Little time, high pressure, and yet always staying up to date – that is the reality in healthcare. Through digitization, e-learning offers new opportunities for practices and clinics! In this article, you will learn how e-learning in medicine helps to solve the special challenges in the healthcare sector.
By the beginning of the Corona pandemic at the latest, it became clear: digital training is needed in all industries! Especially in professions where time is often short and pressure is high, training must be as flexible and uncomplicated as possible. The simple solution: e-learning.
Challenges in Healthcare
In particular, the healthcare sector is exposed to many challenges:
Budgets are tight. Hospitals in particular are struggling with enormous cost pressure due to increasing privatization.
Despite the large amount of work, there is a chronic shortage of staff in almost all medical areas.
At the same time, the knowledge of the existing health personnel must be kept up to date, making continuous education and training increasingly important.
These, in turn, must be flexible and time-efficient for employees, costing hospitals or practices as little time and money as possible.
But how are doctors, nurses, and therapists supposed to manage this at all in their limited time: working AND learning? E-learning can help, especially in medicine, but it is still used too rarely. How to successfully implement e-learning in healthcare and what you should pay attention to, you will find out now:
This is Why E-Learning is So Important in Medicine
In the healthcare industry, e-learning is used for education and training as well as in normal daily work. In addition to classic training purposes, e-learning is now also increasingly used in the daily routine of practices, therapy facilities, hospitals, and also health insurance funds.
Mind map: Where the use of e-learning is worthwhile in healthcare // Illustration: blink.it
And there is a good reason for that! As in other areas, e-learning brings several advantages:
Digital training in online courses is not only cheaper for employers.
E-learning also offers participants flexibility in terms of time and location,
takes into account different learning preferences of the participants, and
is also much more fun than pure face-to-face training.
Finally, you can also design dry topics in a vivid and motivating way.
Areas of Application for E-Learning in Healthcare
E-learning is not just e-learning, as we have explained in the meantime: E-learning is an umbrella term for a wide variety of methods and areas of application. In medicine, too, the application possibilities of e-learning are very diverse:
E-learning in onboarding or the training of new employees
E-learning for staff training
E-learning for quality assurance of skills and workflows
E-learning as a relief in daily work
An e-learning course is particularly suitable for explaining processes, structures, and rules. E-learning is also a suitable method for transferring knowledge when introducing new therapy options, operating technical equipment, and other theoretical topics.
Many companies also use e-learning to regularly check health training or other important qualifications. They can also help simplify workflows, e.g., by allowing patients to read all important information in a special online course before starting therapy and thus prepare for their treatment.
E-Learning only for Doctors, Nurses, and Staff?
In medicine, e-learning offers a variety of ways to simplify daily work and education in healthcare – both for patients and for staff:
E-learning for doctors and nurses
E-learning in the training of healthcare staff
Excursus: E-learning for patients in the healthcare sector
E-Learning for Doctors and Nurses
Medical staff must be kept up to date when it comes to new treatment methods and technical developments. In stressful hospital life, however, there is often too little time for this.
A good example of this is the recent Corona pandemic: In early 2020, many hospitals and staff had to react quickly and learn how to handle the new situation, recognize symptoms, and care for Corona patients correctly – and all this under enormous time pressure! Doctors and nurses had to be informed of the latest developments at all times so that medical care could be guaranteed. The exchange and passing on of current developments was particularly crucial – and at the same time a great challenge in stressful everyday clinical life.
When clinics rely on e-learning in such moments, they can easily inform all staff about the latest developments online and ensure that every employee actually receives the information. Online content can then be processed by everyone when it suits them best. In this way, learning can be flexibly integrated into hectic everyday clinical life. In e-learning, employees can also exchange ideas, discuss in the comments below posts, and share field reports if a suitable learning tool is chosen.
E-Learning in the Training of Healthcare Staff
E-learning is not only suitable for training staff in daily clinical or practice work. E-learning is also a good way to pass on knowledge in the training of nurses, therapists, and doctors. In order to facilitate the transition from theoretical training in school and university to practical clinic and practice routine, e-learning is the ideal companion. According to Springer, typical digital teaching offers in medical education are as follows:
classic media and learning tools for providing content, such as digital texts, emails, and databases
social communication tools for exchange, such as forums, chats, or comment functions
electronic assessment systems, such as e-exams or final tests and quizzes in the online course
Audio and video-based media for instructions or tutorials, such as podcasts or screencasts
Interactive tools, such as serious games, role plays, interactive subject-specific tools, and simulations
Everyday clinical life is often stressful and many employees have hardly any time to guide new junior staff calmly through the individual departments or explain certain processes. Here, too, e-learning is suitable for bundling all information in one course. In this way, the newcomers can check for themselves if they have questions to see whether the answer can be found in the online course or whom they can turn to, and they are not overwhelmed by the many new impressions.
During their training, medical staff primarily learn theoretical knowledge and do not always have the opportunity to look over the shoulder of an experienced colleague. With videos in e-learning, this practical connection succeeds on a small scale. For example, doctors can film an operation or reenact a typical ward round with a colleague. This gives the trainees in training a direct insight into what to expect.
Reading tip: You can find out more about onboarding trainees in this article: The trainees are coming! How onboarding succeeds easily & time-savingly
Example of medical explanatory videos in e-learning // Source: Smedex, YouTube
Excursus: E-Learning for Patients in Medicine
In the healthcare sector, e-learning is not only suitable for specialist staff and their training. There are now also many offer options for the patients themselves.
Some health insurance funds already offer certain e-learning courses for information purposes to their customers, provide free online courses on topics, and inform them digitally about benefits and services. Some funds also offer digital therapy options and preventive e-learning on the topics of relaxation, sports, nutrition, or mental health. The range extends from online therapies to sleep training and various digital yoga and sports courses, and is usually free of charge for members.
In hospitals, there are opportunities to explain all important information in detail in an online course before surgery or other procedures. In this way, the treating doctor can show in a video beforehand what exactly will be done and what the patient should pay attention to. In such courses, the patient can continue to be accompanied and cared for after treatment or surgery. For example, also preventively in the case of current widespread health phenomena such as diabetes or poor nutrition. Further questions and uncertainties can still be discussed in a subsequent appointment. This takes away many of the patient's fears, makes them feel well-informed, and relieves doctors and staff of some of their working time.
There are many ways to use e-learning in healthcare – those just mentioned are of course only a small excerpt of the most common areas of application!
E-Learning in Medicine: What You Should Pay Attention To
We have already clarified that e-learning is suitable for use in hospitals and practices and, above all, brings many advantages for staff. Nevertheless, there are some challenges and special features that you should consider for the use of e-learning in medicine:
Challenges in Healthcare | Solutions thanks to E-Learning | Example: blink.it learning platform |
Learning despite lack of time in everyday life | Flexible online courses with various short contents that can be edited anytime & anywhere. | blink.it offers a large selection of media and can be accessed on any device at any time in the browser, without any installation. |
Lack of practical relevance | Integrate more case studies, simulations & virtual patients in the form of videos or diagrams. | With blink.it, you can easily integrate your own videos or external learning content into your online courses. |
Extensive theory | Varied course design to keep motivation high even with rather dry and theoretical topics. | blink.it itself offers a wide range of media for designing courses and also allows the integration of external content, e.g., via SCORM. |
Regular mandatory training | Knowledge checks such as mandatory training can be implemented with various quizzes directly in the online course. | blink.it offers ways to conduct tests and quizzes directly in the course and to prove passing with a certificate. |
Securing health data | Secure data of patients and staff is guaranteed when the servers are located in Europe and comply with German data protection. | The blink.it servers are located in Germany, so that all data protection regulations for Germany are complied with and sensitive health data is handled securely. |
No matter how you want to use e-learning in medicine: In any case, you need a suitable e-learning platform that is easy to use and easily accessible for both staff and patients, anywhere.
We have found that blink.it is perfectly suited for the requirements of the healthcare sector. Would you like to test for yourself whether the learning platform is also suitable for your purposes? Then book a non-binding demo now and test directly in the free online course what such an online course can look like. Have fun!
