How Medical CE Directors Can Improve Learner Satisfaction Rates

According to a study by SS Marinopoulos et al, continuing education (CE) appears to be valuable in several ways, including the acquisition and retention of knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviors, and clinical outcomes.

A MedData Group study found that of the physician learners:

• 84% prefer to complete their CE online.
• 63% say that early evening is the best time to schedule line online CE.
• Approximately 50% report that virtual CE is becoming more acceptable to live events.
• 80% think that a view-on-demand feature is the top attractive feature of an online learning event.
• 73% already own or are ready to buy a mobile web device, with iPhone or iPad being the most popular.
• 50% like online learning because it lets them avoid the hassles of travel.

As a medical CE director, how are your learners doing? Can they identify with their colleagues? Do your learners identify with these numbers? Are they learning in the best way possible?

Have you asked yourself: “Does my CE offer everything they need for success?” Can you answer “yes”?

If not, are there ways to improve your learner satisfaction rates.

Let’s take a look at what you can do.

Your Learners Are Engaging Technology

When it comes down to the technology, learners prefer to access CE online using their favorite computing device. Consider these numbers reported by the webcast and virtual events group On24 and MedData Group:

• 75% used laptops and desktops for internet access.
• 45% used iPads.
• 52% used iPhones.
• 25% used a non-Apple smartphone.

Other findings from the survey showed that 96.1% of doctors see benefits to being able to attend more meetings, conferences, and CME events virtually. The doctors surveyed also reported the following:

• 80.3% said that they wanted to view on-demand content at their convenience.
• 53.3% wanted to avoid the hassles of traveling to places that they didn’t want to visit.
• 45.1% wanted to spend more time at home, relaxing, or having fun.
• 45.1% stated that it supplied them with the ability to provide better overall patient care.

About 52.9% of the same group of physicians placed importance on having an openness to various viewpoints, and 41.8% wanted funny and entertaining presentations, while 36.1% sought fast-paced content delivery.

With these numbers, you have an audience looking for ways to leverage their devices with their CE.

It’s time for you to step up with a way that offers your learners a technology that suits their needs, improves satisfaction rates, and meets their goals of lifelong learning and skills development.

Give Your Learners an Accessible and Universal Course Design

With the number of doctors indicating their digital preferences, you can offer courses that can improve learner satisfaction rates. Design them with accessibility and learner diversity in mind.

You also need components that make up good course designs and ones that also demonstrate accessibility. Courses should be created for all audiences, so when you use a universal course design, this increases usability that in turn, makes your courses accessible for the broadest range of learners.

What should you look for when designing an accessible and universal course design?

• Use simple, consistent navigation. This includes providing a table of contents. Have all links controlled by keyboard-only navigation, and write concise, meaningful text for each link. Don’t use “Click Here.”
• Make accommodations for vision- and hearing-impaired learners, and address those needs.
• Use captioned videos and transcribed audio clips.
• Provide written descriptions of graphics.
• Use written descriptions of graphics.
• Provide readable text that matches your content and assessment.
• Demonstrate and teach proper discussion board etiquette, such as, “Question about Question 1,” instead of simply using, “Question.”

EthosCE is an automated, enterprise-grade learning management system (LMS) that works to address universal and accessible content design. EthosCE supports individually-paced and accessible learning in your medical CE courses on nearly every device, including iPhone, iPad, and Android. You can provide accessible content that reaches out and drives learner satisfaction.

Supply Relevant Learning Experiences

When you’re providing content to your medical learners, it’s essential to give them relevant experiences using active and effective learning. These approaches include such things as:

• Discussions and debates
• Roleplaying
• Problem-solving
• Diagrams, charts, and lists
• Gaming

Consider how you can go beyond the usual traditional textbooks, lectures, tests, and quizzes, especially when it comes to developing CE courses. You not only should engage medical professionals but also address their individual learning styles. Have content that lets your medical professionals learn best by doing, whether it’s through using online or in-person courses.

Here’s an example of learners in action. A clinical medicine instructor presents students with a hypothetical case study. The students diagnose the patient, choose a treatment plan, and then explain why they chose their particular diagnosis.

EthosCE supports both online course delivery and in-person courses and courses. Group learning is supported and encouraged through the use of active learning strategies like roleplaying and problem-solving for your medical learners.

Examine Learners’ Course Engagement

Are learners engaged in your courses? Do you know how often they access them? When they are doing so, how long are they working on them? Can you measure engagement to determine learner satisfaction?

You can do this through post-course questionnaires and surveys. When you provide a good CE program, the results will be seen in measurable outcomes, like improved patient and community health outcomes.

EthosCE makes it easy to see how your learners are being engaged on a per-course basis with built-in reports and robust data analytics. This way, you can understand each course’s user engagement, from their participation to their completion rates.

Get the CE Tools You Need to Improve Your Learner Satisfaction Rates

When you’re a CE director, you need the right tools to help you improve your learner satisfaction rates. EthosCE technology’s platform allows you to develop solid, engaging courses that keep your medical learners wanting to stay, as well as come back for more.

EthosCE believes that CME technology solutions should be designed to improve healthcare professionals’ user experience, comply with ACCME guidelines, reduce administrative costs, and demonstrate measurable outcomes.

To learn how EthosCE can enhance the continuing education of your medical professionals, request a free 1-on-1 demo with one of our specialists today!