How Instructional Design Impacts Every Organization Including Yours

Maria E. Mejia

Would you trust a dentist who’s never worked on a live patient before? Hire a mechanic who hasn’t worked on a car engine? Perhaps you’d feel more at ease with a pilot who’s logged thousands of hours of classroom training, but never stepped foot in a real cockpit?

I didn’t think so. To earn your trust — and their credentials — many professionals, including healthcare workers, need both classroom and hands-on training in both simulated and live environments.

Jefferson Health is no exception. We believe effective training can be the difference between life or death, particularly in direct patient care, but also in managing the many environmental factors and real-world situations that can impact patient care. Successful preparedness for both would not be possible without effectual instructional design.

What is Instructional Design?
Instructional design is the practice of creating meaningful and memorable learning experiences for a targeted audience. Drawing from cognitive and learning sciences, psychology, UX design and information architecture, Instructional Designers (or IDs) work closely with subject-matter experts (SME) in their respective industries to identify and address knowledge and/or performance gaps within a target group.

Based on their findings and the needs of the organization, the ID creates educational experiences that are rooted in demonstrated learning theories and evidence-based practice. Because learning happens everywhere, not just in the classroom, these experiences can take on a range of forms from conventional instructor-led training and printed manuals, to interactive e-learning modules and video games, or virtual scenario-based simulations.

The Instructional Design Process
In a nutshell, the instructional design process consists of 5 iterative stages (collectively known as the ADDIE model): Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.

Analysis
When a client comes to us with a training request at Jefferson, we gather as much information as possible to create a needs analysis that spells out the following:

• the problem
• desired behavior from the target group (this helps set the benchmark for success)
• current state of the learning environment
• constraints and/or resources needed to complete the project
• whether training is needed (more on this in a future post)
• project timeline

For example, when a pediatric clinical department recently asked DICE Training to help onboard new residents from another site (outside of Jefferson), our needs analysis significantly narrowed the project scope. During this process, we discovered that the incoming cohort already had hands-on experience with a particular clinical application. We identified the knowledge gap and how to address it, so that these residents could “hit the ground running” on their first day.

Instructional design improved the overall onboarding experience while managing costs. Rather than put this group of highly-skilled learners through an 8-hour introductory curriculum, DICE Training built a short e-learning program covering only the difference in Jefferson’s clinical workflows as it related to patient care (e.g. car seat activity, circumcision documentation, delivery summary, etc). The upshot? Accelerated clinical training and patient care, sooner.

If that’s not a win, I don’t know what is.

Design & Development
In the case of the pediatric residents, we moved quickly into the design phase. DICE Training worked with the SME, an Attending Physician, to develop a design document outlining goals and learning objectives, and a set of learning strategies to meet them.

Once the SME approved our design document, we created a storyboard of the proposed e-learning experience with all the details, such as a narration script, visual assets, screencasts, and descriptions of all interactive elements including exercises and simulations. We put together a prototype to demonstrate proof-of-concept, and started working toward the final product shortly thereafter. Along the way, we checked in several times to ensure that the product (an e-learning module) satisfied the client’s and learner’s needs.

Implementation
Another recent project wasn’t quite so simple. This large-scale initiative impacted all clinical employees across multiple campuses, as Jefferson transitioned to a new (and complex) software system used to document patients’ electronic health records. To help users, the DICE Training Team produced scalable computer-based training that reached over 900 providers and medical students trained, thus reducing class time for providers by 30% and saving the organization an estimated $776,881. We implemented a range of training options from over-the-shoulder solutions that addressed user questions on the spot, to comprehensive e-learning curriculums for Jefferson providers across the region, to blended programs that started in the classroom and used e-learning to reinforce key concepts.

For our outpatient physician e-learning curriculum, the implementation phase included internal QA testing and creating workflows for onboarding new staff. Whereas our classroom-based experiences involved training facilitators for course delivery, creating course and participant guides, preparing handouts, and verifying that all audio-visual and computing equipment were ready for classroom use.

Evaluation
Throughout the implementation and evaluation phases, we measure educational outcomes to determine the success of the project. Were the learning objectives met? Was there a quantifiable shift in behaviors or attitudes as a result of our work? How can we improve it for next time? The data we collect in the evaluation stage helps inform not only the project at hand, but it shapes our considerations for similar projects down the road.

In the case of the Epic transition, effective Instructional Design generated cascading results:

• Provider training that was previously only available in a classroom was now available 100% online for existing physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, new hires and more;
• a culture of learning took root as the clinical workforce became aware of our online resources for ongoing training, and where to find more;
• departments are asking for training to keep their skills sharp, and are no longer driven by legal or regulatory requirements alone

Summarizing the Impact to the Organization
Instructional design plays a crucial role in developing skilled healthcare professionals, and at Jefferson we can prove it. To summarize, take a look at what we do:

1. Improve the Onboarding Experience while Containing Costs

At Jefferson, we help streamline and standardize the onboarding experience for new hires, and residents for inpatient and outpatient physicians. Our IDs work with SMEs who hold teaching and/or leaderships positions within their departments, to come up with a list of “must-have” on-the-job skills that every new hire needs.

2. Providing Ongoing Support to Employees to Create a Culture of Learning

Prior to starting clinical service, all participants are assigned e-learning curriculums tailored to their service. For example, residents and new hires serving in an outpatient practice will be assigned a curriculum consisting of screencasts and highly interactive exercises that guide them through all the tasks they’ll encounter in their day-to-day work. Much like a pilot in a flight simulator, this gives providers a chance to make mistakes in a safe environment and thoroughly practice a skill before ever seeing patients. The learning environment is standardized, self-paced, and available on demand. Residents and new hires can review at anytime during their tenure at Jefferson to refresh their knowledge.

3. Manage Large-Scale Initiatives to Promote and Sustain Enterprise Growth

Instructional Design can help communicate large-scale initiatives in a standardized way to ensure everyone’s on the same page. As we implemented Epic and ever since, the DICE Training Team remains responsive to the needs of the organization and adapts as needed. We follow the ADDIE model to develop a range of skills across the workforce, whether it’s to understand scientific concepts, to follow instructions, to teach problem-solving or to change behavior. Instructional Design helps Jefferson encourage new ideas and fosters innovation.

If you’re interested in tackling transformation in your enterprise, consider leveraging your Instructional Design talents. And, if you’re unsure where to begin, DICE Training is happy to help start that journey. Education can be transformational; let us show you how.

Author:
Maria E. Mejia is a Senior Instructional Designer at Jefferson. Building high-quality digital learning experiences is her passion. Her diverse background in the healthcare and IT industries led to the field of instructional design and e-learning development. Her primary areas of interest are learning technology integration, non-immersive VR solutions, and UX design in clinical settings. She is a graduate of Barnard College-Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania.

Maria is a proud learning & development geek. She lives, breathes, and (sometimes) dreams all things blended learning. Her prior coursework focused on educational technology in postgraduate dental and medical education.