As more Baby Boomers approach retirement age, they continue to work. Most can’t afford to retire until a year after they’re dead, so they need to stay healthy. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) estimates that the healthcare industry will show the most growth through 2018. Houston, it appears we have a perfect storm.
The Intersection of Healthcare and eLearning
Electronic medical records, medical coding, evolving regulations and an aging society provide new employment opportunities while propelling the eLearning machine to greater heights. Certification courses have added eLearning components to their curricula, and hands-on healthcare is tapping into eLearning and incorporating it into a blended eLearning solution.
American Safety & Health Institute Cuts Costs for Providers
In 2011, the American Safety & Health Institute (ASHI) introduced eLearning into their Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification program in adult advanced cardiac life support for healthcare professionals. The program combines eLearning modules with hands-on, classroom training, reducing costs for healthcare providers. Today, ASHI offers community courses as well as lifesaving courses for professional responders.
Wiley Goes e-Wild to Offer Latest and Greatest Information
While still a leader in the textbook space, Wiley has added eLearning to their lineup with multilingual tutorials, live online workshops and multilingual user guides in evidence-based medicine, nursing, dentistry and healthcare. Imagine the savings in production time and costs, not to mention the ease of the update cycle. The publisher has also launched an open-access program for peer-reviewed authors, extending leading-edge research to professional researchers, practitioners and even the lay audience.
Convenience for Patients
U.K. based CoaguChek has brought eLearning to patients taking anticoagulation medication who use the CoaguChek XS meter to monitor their international normalized ratio (INR) levels. Before home monitoring, the patient had to travel to a clinic to monitor INR levels; today, they can self-monitor by taking a drop of their blood at home and using the meter to analyze it. While patients are more inclined to use a meter than to travel to a clinic, it’s important that they get a correct reading, and CoaguChek helps to ensure accuracy through eLearning.
As healthcare providers have to keep employees current on latest advances while navigating regulatory waters, they are using blending learning to save time, money and human resources while providing current information to healthcare professionals. Professionals can also tap into Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and use their own mobile and wearable devices to receive on-demand, life-saving information.
