Where do we start?
At OSIS, we provide expert NextGen® Healthcare technology assistance around the country – exclusively to Community Health Centers. As one of NextGen’s largest customers, we understand the products' "out of the box" limitations for Health Centers - and how to overcome them to make our Members' technology investments (and staff) as highly functional as possible. How do we do this? We educate and develop custom training manuals, “how-to” quick reference sheets, and even custom training videos highlighting not only NextGen functionality, but also organization-specific processes and policies for whenever staff members need a refresher. Ultimately, we implement project-based optimizations and training programs based on roles and responsibilities—not system features and functions—to achieve utilization goals efficiently and effectively.
To achieve a successful training program at OSIS or a health center, new employees must be setup with the tools they need to be successful. Below, we will review OSIS’ suggestions to setting up a successful new hire training program for health centers who leverage NextGen in their practices.
Plan. Plan. Plan.
The first steps for NextGen practices to set up their new employees for success is to create a proper plan. Without a NextGen training plan in place, employees may be immediately confused and unorganized right out of the gate.
- We encourage creating a plan for all job roles that may benefit from NextGen training
- Use this training plan as milestones or checkpoint for the new employee
- Include dates, times, contact people, and goals
- Start simple and build upon the plan as the practice gains experience
What Works? What Does Not?
The most common approach is the sink or swim approach or Information Overload. Once the new employee begins employment at the practice, usually there is a short timeframe given for them to receive NextGen training. The urgent need for employees to begin their role within practices usually overshadows the training and does not provide the in-depth training needed to accurately use NextGen.
Why doesn’t this work? New employees are often trying to balance and memorize new information given to them. As they onboard into a new practice, new employees balance information from human resources, new names and faces of co-workers, passwords, policies and procedures of the practice, and of course – learn NextGen.
To create a successful training plan, consider these training methods that may be more effective than the Information Overload route.
- Offer “microlearning,” short 20-minute sessions that focus on a specific topic to help with retention. This information should be concise and engaging.
- Use gamification methods, such as games like jeopardy or bingo to yield high engagement from learners.
- Allow enough time for learning to take place and avoid lengthy, day-long trainings. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), when you learn something new, the best way to remember it is to sleep on it.
- Ask the learner to teach information back to the trainer and intermittently provide “knowledge checks” to assess the learner’s understanding.
- Incorporate methods that reach learners of all styles and present material in a way that is relevant to the learner. Examples of learning styles are below:
- Auditory Leaners take information in through listening and speaking
- Tactile Learners benefit most with firsthand experience using the material in relatable situations
- Visual Learners absorb information when they see the material being presented
- Give learners the opportunities to shadow experienced NextGen users or “super users” to see the material they have learned put into action.
Building a Toolkit for Training.
Once a plan is created and you find out what works or what does not, the next step in creating a NextGen New Hire Training Program is to create a toolkit. Below are OSIS recommended steps we encourage our Members to take to build their training toolkit:
- Create the training plan
- Have a dedicated learning environment separate from patient activity
- Dedicate an employee(s) as a trainer/mentor for new hires
- Buy in from the top-down to show new employees their leadership is devoted to their success
- Take advantage of the OSIS training resources provided with your membership
As mentioned earlier in this article, OSIS helps to make the technology investments (and staff) of our Members as highly functional as possible through education. We offer many training resources to the NextGen health centers we serve. Specifically, for the health center's new employees, we offer two specific training resources. OSIS training specialists provide on-demand and live training courses every month to health center new employees who need training on NextGen EHR, EPM, and EDR in the OSIS NextGen New hire Training sessions.
Another resource OSIS provides is on-demand videos in our OSIS University (OU). Courses in the OU range from beginner to advanced skill-levels and can provide new hires with additional training to enhance their skill in NextGen EHR, EPM, and EDR. These are just two of the many resources we offer to optimize and enhance their NextGen experience.
The First Month…
If there is one thing to get out of this post, it is that training new employees can make or break a practice. To start, here is an example of a New Hire Orientation schedule, we have seen health centers implement into their practices.
Week 1 - Human Resources, staff introductions, meet with management and peers, begin shadowing super users
Week 2 - Continue super user shadowing and meeting with management, on-demand basic NextGen courses
Week 3 - Attend on-demand or live OSIS NextGen New Hire training sessions
Week 4 - New user to be shadowing, in-person support from super user, auditing for remedial training
Additionally, this document provides another sample of a training outline OSIS has created to for a Medical Assistant (MA) new hire training plan.
Open to Change
Now that we have reviewed how to build a toolkit to set up a New Hire NextGen Training program, be prepared to build on these initial ideas. Recognize that when it comes to training, there is always room for improvement. After the training program is under way, collect surveys from your learners to evaluate the efficacy of the training. Be open to feedback, and if something is not working, try and try again!
We strongly encourage OSIS Members to reach out to the OSIS staff to help supplement some of this training. OSIS training specialists are here to help practices focus on patient care and reduce employee turnover or burnout. If you are not an OSIS Member and would like to know more about our services and how we help health centers with their training processes, contact us today!