How to Stay on Top of E-Learning Trends in the Informatics and Digital Health Sector

When you are in the digital health and informatics industry, staying informed regarding trends, in general, can be important. However, staying on top of e-learning trends in this highly technologically advanced industry can be even more important.

Ensuring that your future employees receive current course material and instructors stay updated regarding techniques is vital. In any industry that relies so heavily on technology, it can be easy to feel like you are being left behind by companies that use more advanced teaching methods.

What Is Digital Health and Informatics?

Health informatics is a new industry that uses information technology to organize and analyze data from healthcare records to improve the outcome of treatment. There are several different working areas of this industry that are extremely crucial.

The informatics industry uses resources, devices, and methods to acquire, store, and retrieve data surrounding medical records and other health data. Work in this industry provides healthcare records for doctors, nurses, and administrators to assist them in diagnosis and other healthcare strategies.

It’s not just diagnosis and treatment that is improved through this sector. Informatics also works to improve the communication between hospitals, doctors and patients, and different departments within hospitals. Through the improvement of this communication, better coordination is developed, leading to better care for patients.

How can those involved ensure that they are keeping up with e-learning trends in such a rapidly changing industry? The following section outlines how this can be done.

Using Your PMS Platform to Ensure Your LMS Platform Is Teaching Updated Material

Using your PMS program can be the perfect way to analyze how well your LMS platform is used to implement course material and learning strategies. The following questions can be asked to help better analyze the effectiveness of your LMS program and e-learning techniques:

• Are your employees following all regulatory compliance laws? Have they all been instructed and certified in the laws regarding HIPAA and privacy policies? This is very important when it comes to informatics.
• Are your employees engaging one another through online platforms in a way that leads to better healthcare and outcomes for patients? Learning how to compile, use, and share data is a crucial element of the LMS platforms. Using PMS to gauge where your employees are with these elements can be very telling regarding your e-learning techniques.
• Is there an understanding of all charts and data involved during the informatics process? Are employees keeping up with new programming methods to build databases?

Conducting assessments can give you plenty of insight into how well your employees are digesting course material. If progress isn’t being made in regards to your informatics programs and systems, it’s possible your LMS isn’t up to speed.

Do Employees Have Contact with Professionals and Experts from Other Areas?

One crucial part of informatics is contacting and learning from other experts in the medical field. Are employees able to take advantage and communicate with these third-party resources?

Valuable information can be obtained from third-party groups and organizations on how to implement an effective informatics program. However, employees must be well-trained in the communication methods and how to engage in communication with these organizations.

If you feel your employees are lacking in this area, it could be time to update or use a new LMS platform. The communication factor is vital when it comes to informatics, and employees should understand how to take advantage of certain platforms.

How Is the Patient Experience Overall? 

You should always understand the quality of your patient experience. Properly using informatics and digital health platforms goes a long way in improving the patient experience and providing better care.

Use polls and surveys to engage patients on how they feel their level of treatment is. Ask the following questions to find out their opinion regarding the quality of care they are receiving:

• Do you feel that your level of care has improved over the last six months?
• Are you satisfied with your diagnosis and testing leading up to that diagnosis?
• Are you happy with your treatment plans and the level of care received from your physician?
• Do you get the feeling that all resources and options are being used in regard to your treatment plans?
• Have you been informed of and provided information regarding new techniques and methods of care?

Asking your patients questions can give you a good indication as to whether your e-learning process is keeping up with trends. Information moves fast in the medical industry, and new data is available every day when it comes to digital health and informatics. This is the whole point of the implementation of these programs.

If you feel that your patients are satisfied and answered positively to the previous questions, it’s a good indication that your organization is keeping up with trends in e-learning. Updated data and information provided to doctors and nurses are for the sole purpose of improving the patient experience. This is the number one goal when it comes to a good informatics program.

Are You Attracting Quality Employees?

Paying attention to the level of quality you are receiving from applicants is also very important. Are highly-rated doctors and other employees flocking to your organization?

They don’t have to be in high numbers, but if there is a steady trend of quality employees and highly reviewed names in your industry, it’s a good indicator that your program is keeping up with current trends.

Takeaways

In the medical field, professionals will tend to follow organizations that are on the cutting edge as far as technology goes. A caregiver’s main goal is to provide the best level of care possible for a patient.

If your informatics program is up to date, employees will be provided with the latest information that allows them to provide efficient diagnoses and care plans. Keeping your finger on the pulse of the quality of the employees that are being hired (no pun intended) is a great way to gauge how up-to-date your e-learning program is.