Training and Development in Health Care

Training and Development in Health Care

Training and educating the employees of the health care industry is vital to the success of every health care organization. The health care industry is always changing with the creation of new medications, new surgical treatments, and various other methods of treatment. It is vital to health care organizations that they have trained and educated employees properly to ensure that their patient’s well-being and quality of life come first. The advancement of technology has also played a vital role in the training and education of health care industry employees. Training and education is vital to the success of any organization, but when human lives are involved a bigger influence is weighted on the organization to ensure that their employees are fully trained and educated.

There are many types of health care jobs out there and most of them require some sort of college education. It is imperative that the employees of any health care organization are properly trained and educated to fulfill the job requirements. Health care employees are working with patients where the smallest mistakes can have very dangerous consequences. Every action that the employee does must be done in the correct fashion to protect both the patient and the health care organization. There are state and federal standards that must be upheld by each health care organization and each employee must be properly trained and education on these standards. Billing departments, human resources departments, and various other departments have laws that have to be abide by and it is imperative that all employees are properly trained on these laws. It is vital to the organization that they understand this as well as the competencies needed to fulfill the job requirements.

Competencies are the measurable or observable knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (KSABs) critical to successful job performance (Washington State Department of Personnel, 2011). Competencies allow the health care organization to fully describe what they expect out of each employee. It allows the organization to show the employees what is need to fulfill the duties from the specific job. It also helps the organization plan out the goals from the organization because it allows the organization to fully understand what is needed to accomplish the goals or tasks. Competencies also can be used during training or education of the employees to fully develop what is needed from the organization.

Tracking and evaluating training effectiveness consumes valuable time and resources. It is vital that health care organizations use a method that will be lenient on time and the organization’s resources. The Kirkpatrick Model is the most well-known and used model for measuring the effectiveness of training programs was developed by Donald Kirkpatrick in the late 1950s (Business Performance, 2011). The first level of the Kirkpatrick Model is reaction, which judges the reaction to the program by the participants or employees. This allows the organization to obtain automatic feedback on the program. The second level of the model is learning, where the organization can see how much the participants learned from the program by test scores and assessments. The third level of the model is behavior, where the organization can see how the participant’s behavior has changed because of the result of the training. The last level of the model is results. This is the most vital level of the model because it allows the organization to judge the results that were made due to the training. It allows the organization to decide whether or not to continue with that particular training program.

Training and education is vital to the success of any organization, but when human lives are involved a bigger influence is weighted on the organization to ensure that their employees are fully trained and educated. This is why it is vital for health care organizations to ensure that the employees of the organization are properly trained and educated. Health care organizations also need to understand what competencies are needed to fulfill the job requirements. Competencies also can be used during training or education of the employees to fully develop what is needed from the organization. It is vital that health care organizations have a method of tracking and evaluating training effectiveness. The Kirkpatrick Model is the best known and used model for measuring the effectiveness of training programs. Health care organization can use the Kirkpatrick Model to judge which training programs are working for their organization. Training and educating the employees of the health care industry is vital to the success of every health care organization and it is vital that are able to properly use it to their advantage.

References

Washington State Department of Personnel, . (2011, March 14). Competencies . Retrieved from http://www.dop.wa.gov/strategichr/workforceplanning/competencies/pages/default.aspx

 Business Performance, . (2011, March 14). Why measure training effectiveness?. Retrieved from http://www.businessperform.com/workplace-training/evaluating_training_effectiven.html