TAP top of charts for Moorfields
Moorfields, the oldest Eye Hospital in the world, is internationally renowned for its ophthalmic treatment, cutting edge research and medical training. Sustaining its world leading reputation depends on recruiting, training and developing staff of the highest calibre - not just those administering the treatment but all the non-clinical staff responsible for managing the whole patient experience from first appointment to discharge.
Ian Mercer and his six-strong team are in charge of non-clinical development across all roles. It is an increasingly busy role, embracing a wide range of learning and development needs from management development to compliance with internal and external mandatory requirements. Central to high standards of patient care is proficiency in the use of the Patient Administration System, which manages the 'patient pathway' - the timeline and detailed treatment record from beginning to end of a patient's care experience.
Responsibility for developing the IT skills required to manage this process falls to three of lan's colleagues: Senior IT Trainer Mala Trivedi,Yosef Tilahun and Shyam Navnitlal. They are acutely aware that one of the biggest challenges for any IT trainer is to make their material, and the way they deliver it, interesting, engaging and memorable.
"A lot of IT training falls down because it doesn't focus on the learner," says Ian. "A good trainer can train in anything. They can always learn the subject. But a subject matter expert without training skills can be very boring. If you're lucky you might get someone who inherently enjoys training, but more often than not it'll be a matter of telling people what they need to know. The delegate may leave thinking 'what a clever chap', but without knowing whether they've learned anything."
Ian was determined that his IT trainers, who run between five and ten courses a week, would not fall into that trap. The Training Foundation has played a big part in supporting this goal. Mala, Yosef and Shyam have all achieved the Trainer Assessment Programme (TAP®) Certificate in Training Delivery Skills. Mala has also completed the Diploma in Learning and Development, while Yosef has completed the Certificate in E-learning Skills.
"We're gradually building all the complementary skills required to deliver a truly first class training service," says Ian. "The way we design and deliver training, plus the incremental online support we provide on an ongoing basis is crucial to the impact on the learning experience and ultimately the quality of the service we provide to patients."
All of these skills were recently put to the test when the IT training team were tasked with designing and delivering a session focused on the national target to reduce patient waiting times between referral and treatment to a maximum of 18 weeks.
"It's vital that we have rigorous processes in place to meet this target," explains Ian. "There's a lot of information for clinical clerks to take on board and the 'patient pathway' exists to minimise the risk of anything going wrong."
The first surprise is that this was IT training with not a computer in sight. The emphasis was on giving course participants as much involvement with their learning process as possible. Inspired by TAP design principles, the IT team redesigned the 'patient pathways' session so that it was structured around a series of interactive activities rather than a sequence of instructions.
Through a succession of fun games, the aim was to identify and address knowledge gaps and facilitate knowledge demonstration so that the learners became aware of what they did and did not know.
"Fun and IT training don't normally go together, but fun is exactly what the course participants had," says Ian. "Participant feedback was so positive. They thought they were in for a long boring training session, but they thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact it was a bit of a coup for us. Making the step change from telling people what they needed to know to introducing lots of questioning, discussion and interaction made all the difference to the learner experience."
TAP had helped the IT trainers to stand back and re-think their approach to training. Focusing on the learner rather than the subject initially took them outside their comfort zone, but it led to an all-important shift in mindset that resulted in a more rewarding experience for both them and the learners.
Training designed to broaden the repertoire of learning experiences has had a similar impact. E-learning complements classroom training, offering on-the-job support as well as a means of online performance management.
"I found the TAP Certificate in E-learning really useful," says Yosef. "Not only has it given me the structure and practical techniques to construct e-learning materials, but it's also given me a much wider perspective on e-learning and the options available."
One of the things Ian really values about TAP is that it is possible to fail. "Any course you can fail has credibility and the fact that you have to re-certify to demonstrate your skills are up to scratch only adds to that credibility," says Ian. "The problem with a qualification for life is you never know whether it's being applied to good effect."
Moorfields' commitment to TAP in the design and delivery of IT Training has been rewarded with Gold TAP Partner status, which Ian views as a powerful, externally recognised symbol of professionalism.
"We'll be promoting this strongly internally," he says. "There needs to be greater awareness of the vast amount of work that goes into the training we deliver. The problem with training is that if it's bad, staff don't know what they're missing but if it's good they don't understand what it is that makes the difference. There's no doubt that TAP has been instrumental in making that difference."