Do you remember the childhood game of Hide and Seek? I remember the rush of hurrying to find the perfect hiding spot. That seemed to be the goal if you were not “It.” After finding the perfect hiding spot (after running as fast as I could), I would try to slow my breathing and be as still as possible. The thing is, all that time spent finding the perfect place to hide was not as rewarding as I thought it would be. More often than not, I would get bored and end up having to reveal myself to keep the other participants from giving up.

What does this trip down memory lane have to do with healthcare training?

Currently, I work for an education department of a large hospital system where I manage the education needs for a few of the hospital service lines. I find myself trying to create the perfect training solution and training materials. I meet with subject matter experts, identify the desired result, and coordinate the needed resources to deliver training. We can spend months fine-tuning curriculum and practicing our delivery.  

Of course, the training happens, and we set the participants loose into the “real world” to practice what we taught them. Unfortunately, many forgot most of what we taught in the classroom, and they resort to asking peers for assistance or trying to look for another resource to help them accomplish the task.

What happened to all of those hours we spent on creating the perfect classroom materials? How can we meet that immediate training need without giving away our perfect hiding place… um, I mean our classroom training?

I have a saying: “We can create the best learning content, but if no one can find it, it is useless.” One can also say that if the learner does not have time to look for or complete the training, it also has no use. Just like that hiding spot, however perfect it may be, it gets pretty lonely if no one can find you!

I believe that the world is spoiled by what I call, “YouTube learning.” Not that this is a bad thing. In recent weeks, I have successfully learned how to change a headlight, reset a motherboard on a washing machine, create a conditional formula in Excel, and how to use the infamous “iCloud” all by searching for a YouTube video. I keep asking myself: If this is how I learn, why can’t we build our learning tools the same way?

I find that we build classroom training and curriculum to capture every known scenario and then teach it from beginning to end. We end up with a 400+ page book that most learners will never see.

The question becomes: How can we incorporate more just-in-time YouTube-style of training?

Here are a few ideas:

• Get “Chunky” With It. Package the content in short “chunks” that enable the user to find just what they need and review it quickly. Remember: We can’t overwhelm users with hours and hours of content—especially in the healthcare industry when bedside nurses are most useful when they are actually at the bedside. Just like a great game of Hide and Seek can get boring after a while, we need to keep things moving.

• Go Viral. Like popular videos on the Internet, the more we promote or share training tools, the more people will use them—maybe even share them with their co-workers. Make it easy for your learners to access content, as well as share it with others. Embed it into parts of your classroom training, your pre- and post-training communications, and memorable handouts. For example, we created laminated playing cards with the web address and QR Code to the class website that we update with new job aids, games, and FAQs specific to their training.

• Don’t Let It Get Stale. One of the quickest ways to discourage users from accessing training materials and tools is offering them outdated content. For instance, our computer charting system is always changing and updating, so we must change with it. I’m sure learners have great imaginations, but it discredits our training every time I have to tell them that “This is not what it looks like in production.” Or, we might have the best looking web-based training in the organization, but if the simulations do not reflect the current live system, it is of no use for the learner.

So, the next time you play Hide and Seek—I mean, create a training solution—make sure that you don’t spend all your time finding the perfect hiding spot. Think of ways to engage your learners once the initial game—I mean, training—is over. Always be aware of the ways you access learning, whether in the garage, the kitchen, the laundry room, or the perfect “hiding spot,” and transform them into your personal training tools.