McLeod Health Streamlines Training – Accelerates Time to Patient Bedside

McLeod needed to streamline their training practices, which were a patchwork of manual methods and disparate software systems that could not scale to meet McLeod’s rapid growth.

To solve this problem, McLeod chose SilkRoad Learning whose solution, implementation and support far exceeded their expectations.

• McLeod save $3.2 million on a single course with SilkRoad Learning
• 40% increase in time staff was bedside by leveraging e-learning from accredited sources such as the American Heart Association

Background

McLeod Health is a private, not-for-profit institution that prides itself on modern facilities, premier technology, and a dedication to improving the health of the communities it serves. The staff of McLeod is composed of 5,900 employees spread throughout its medical centers, home health agency, extended care facility, fitness and rehab facility and 35 medical practices. McLeod needed to streamline their training practices, which were a patchwork of manual methods and non-integrated software that could not scale to meet McLeod’s rapid growth.

Training Challenges

McLeod was using existing software, not intended to support a learning management system. This system housed their training records, but could not support their most basic requirements. Fo example, the system allowed employees to enroll in a course, but could not actually register them for the course, which was done manually. This resulted in almost 6,000 employees funneling their enrollment requests to 3 staff members who manually registered them for the course.

In addition to managing quality training, McLeod Health is subject to audits by regulatory bodies. These surveys require proof that the staff is adequately trained and demonstrates competency using certified methods. McLeod was providing this proof using an in-house developed reporting system that interfaced with their current software; however, this interface required continual maintenance, and producing the required reports resulted in hours of lost productivity.

Another challenge McLeod Health faced was pulling staff from their primary care roles into a classroom setting for multiple days to attend a required course. Because all staff members cannot physically attend the same class, multiple trainers were used, resulting in inconsistent training between staff members. McLeod wanted to take advantage of online and other blended learning methods where possible to ensure consistency, reduce costs and streamline the process.

SilkRoad’s Learning Solution

McLeod attended a local HR conference and saw a demonstration of SilkRoad Learning. After seeing the demo, they decided to investigate further and looked at other LMS solution providers. McLeod felt SilkRoad Learning was best suited for their needs; they were especially impressed with the synergistic capabilities between SilkRoad Learning and SilkRoad Performance. Additionally, because McLeod Health employs a large number of Hispanic employees, they required a solution that could translate their courses into Spanish, a task currently being done manually by a respiratory therapist. McLeod Health was thrilled when they realized SilkRoad Learning could perform these translations for them.

McLeod Health was impressed with SilkRoad’s experienced implementation team and how quickly they were up and running, especially because they were able to maintain their training history by leveraging SilkRoad Learning’s import feature. By simply creating a spreadsheet from their existing system, McLeod was able to upload their existing training history. This feature came into play again when McLeod took on the administrative functions for both Loris County Hospital and Seacoast Medical Center, making the transition effortless.

Ease of use was another benefit cited by McLeod that made for a quick “up and running” experience. The intuitive interface was quickly adopted by the staff and required no formal training. Now every employee has made a habit to check “My Training” to get a summary of any upcoming training.

SilkRoad Learning Results

After implementation McLeod uncovered a number of benefits from SilkRoad Learning:

• $3.2 million in cost savings, from just one course
• Won the 2010 Quest for Quality Award from the American Hospital Association
• 35% increase in physicians with Advanced Cardiac Life Support (aCLS) certification
• Significant gains in productivity

“We never imagined we’d see this level of cost savings by implementing SilkRoad Learning; $3.2 million, with just one course!” said Mib Scoggins, Director of Organization Learning at McLeod Health. “We can’t wait to convert all our courses to an e-Learning format, the cost savings will be in the tens of millions, allowing us to focus on delivering an even higher quality of care for our patients.