Advice for Delivering Digital Education to Health Professionals

Digital education has steadily become more prevalent over the years. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, people have embraced digital education more than ever before – and not just in educating children in schools but also in educating healthcare professionals in hospitals.

With the aim to bring together a network of nurses across the country (and sometimes globally), healthcare education providers utilised platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom to deliver webinars and host virtual conferences at an unprecedented level.

These platforms have also been used to launch new products and deliver continued product support. Some providers administer their own educational platforms, where healthcare professionals can complete learning modules online.

Whilst digital education provided healthcare professionals with a means for continuing education during COVID-19, there are pros and cons to the method:

Pros

Cons

Makes education more accessible to all, participants are able to join from home or at work at their own convenience. If webinars/conferences are available on-demand, it allows the healthcare professional to access the content in their own time – and therefore work at their own speed. On-demand courses/information also gives healthcare professionals the opportunity to quickly brush up on something. Tends to be more short/precise than a one-day face-to-face course. Any webinars or online modules that the participant completes could contribute towards revalidation, and therefore provide an incentive to join/complete the course. Webinars provide an opportunity to promote products, if done subtly at the end and does not take the focus away from the learning objectives. More cost-effective than face-to-face education. Provides the opportunity to ask questions during a live webinar.

Healthcare professionals miss out on the networking experience they get when attending traditional face-to-face courses/conferences. Cannot be used for practical training – unrealistic to send products to participants (and therefore digital should be reserved for theory only). Harder to stay engaged if the course is online vs. face-to-face. More difficult to participate in a question-and-answer session unless it’s fielded well (only the moderator asks relevant questions and controls who is speaking). Harder for participants to get time off to participate in a short online course vs. a single day face-to-face course. Participants are more likely to remember content if the course is face-to-face. Relies on a good internet connection. Group work is much harder to manage online. Lacks personal touch. More difficult to follow up if participate doesn’t understand something.

Whilst it’s likely that healthcare professionals are itching to get back to face-to-face sessions, it’s clear that digital platforms will be used more and more in education and online medical market research.

Below is a list of IDR Medical’s key dos and don’ts when it comes to running a webinar or an online course:

Do:

1. Carefully plan your webinar/online course.

Think about what the overall learning objectives are and what participants will get out of the course, just as you would a face-to-face course.

2. Tailor the content to your target audience.

Remember that non-specialists see a wide range of patients and are therefore more likely to want a basic overview of a topic.

3. Communicate the learning objectives upfront.

This will enable participants to understand what they will be getting out of the course.

4. Consider how to ensure your course contributes towards the healthcare professional’s revalidation.

For example, providing proof of attendance will enable them to log the course.

5. Select a trainer based on what your target audience expects.

For example, a specialist nurse is more likely to expect to be taught by someone with similar qualifications or even an expert in their field.

6. Save questions and answers for the end of the session.

Ask participants to type their questions into the chatbox and select a handful of relevant/interesting questions to answer.

7. Ensure the webinar is recorded.

Also, be sure to save it and bring it online so that it becomes a resource that healthcare professionals can access at a later date.

8. Get your timings right.

Do some research to understand when the most convenient time is for your target audience to attend. Participants generally prefer to listen live.

Don’t:

1. Run an online course/webinar for a full day.

Participants are less likely to be engaged if an online course lasts more than a few hours. Full days of education should be saved for face-to-face courses.

2. Focus your webinar on practical tasks.

Practical learning should be reserved for face-to-face learning. One demonstration of a product and/or procedure might be valuable if done clearly, but participants may also feel that they are missing out.

3. Make promoting your products the focus of the course.

Most participants will expect some product promotion from a manufacturer-sponsored educational event, but if it diverts the course away from the overall learning objectives, participants will likely become less engaged and in turn less likely to attend future events.

4. Forget to follow up with participants following the course.

Send them a link to a short questionnaire asking for their feedback. This allows you to assess what to improve on for next time.

Blended learning, the combination of face-to-face and digital education, is likely to become the norm for education in healthcare in the future.

Some companies are ahead of the curve already: By implementing virtual reality and adaptive learning (AI) into their courses, some companies have already made them more appealing.

However, many of the methods you can use are very simple and cost-effective. For example, consider introducing games/quizzes into your courses, and focusing on micro-learning modules and mobile learning in order to provide a short and quick course that healthcare professionals can review on the go.

The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt brought this shift forward a few years, and as participants have experienced more digital education in the past year, many have seen the value of digital education.