Supporting learning within the workplace

Abstract

The phrase "lifelong learning" places emphasis on the fact that learning continues beyond the classroom and formal educational environments, though it is often supported by training within the workplace. Continued professional development is particularly important within the context of healthcare, where technology is constantly evolving and errors run the risk of causing serious harm to patients. This paper considers the case of infusion device training within UK hospitals. Interviews were carried out with staff involved in medical device training and management across seven National Health Service trusts. The analysis indicates the range of training provided by different institutions and highlights important issues that influence how users develop their understanding of these devices. Further, the research indicates that while there is an increasing interest in e-learning as a way to overcome some of the challenges trainers face in relation to time and resources, there are also significant concerns which need to be addressed when considering this approach.

Infusion device standardisation and dose error reduction software

“…Respondents were recruited from a previous interview study (Iacovides et al, 2013), various mailing lists and websites (e.g. the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine mailing list and the National Association of Medical Device Educators and Trainers website) and through attempting to directly contact departments within a list of 162 acute trusts in England (NHS, 2013).…”

“…Nurses are primary users of infusion devices (Iacovides et al, 2013), and "smart pump" technology such as Drug Error Reduction Software (DERS) has been presented as beneficial to both nurses and patients (Upton and Quinn, 2013). While the definition of "smart pump" technology can vary, for the purposes of this review, the term is used to describe infusion devices which require additional information about the patient (e.g.…”

Improving procedural skills acquisition of students during medical device training: experiments on e-Learning vs. e-Learning with hands-on

“…Formal clinical skills training is important; otherwise, safety may depend on incidental learning from other staff (Taxis & Barber, 2003). However, medical device trainings frequently consist of classroom training with little standardization of content, no possibility for learning at an individual pace, and little hands-on activity (Brand, 2015;Grundgeiger et al, 2017;Iacovides et al, 2013;Saint-Marc et al, 2019). E-Learning, defined as technology-based learning without face-to-face contact (McCutcheon et al, 2015), can address the first points (e.g., Carolan et al, 2020;Farrell, 2006), but e-Learning in combination with concurrent hands-on activity has received little attention.…”

“…We investigate how the benefits of e-Learning may be combined with the expressed desire by staff and students for hands-on activity (Brand, 2015;Grundgeiger et al, 2017;Iacovides et al, 2013;Saint-Marc et al, 2019) in a blended learning approach for medical device training. In both experiments, one group received training with an e-Learning program and a syringe pump for hands-on practice (e-Learning + hands-on), whereas the other group used the e-Learning program only (e-Learning only).…”