Real-time solutions: Advanced Healthcare Professional Training

by Jaclyn King

Changes are ripe in healthcare. With the alphabet soup of MACRA, QPP, CPC+ and potential ACA changes, practices are being asked to do more and transform their work. Since the 1960’s the term “team-based care” has been floating around healthcare and yet the solution requires front line staff to have skills that are not taught in school, thus increasing the cost for practices to train on the job. And HealthTeamWorks^® has a proven solution.

Enhance the professional and personal skills and competencies of the care team members so that licensed nurses, medical assistant and front desk staff can work most effectively with colleagues and have the greatest impact on patient health outcomes. As a medical assistant and previous participant in HealthTeamWorks Advanced Healthcare Professional Training (AHCP) stated,

“In school you are taught the provider and patients are right. You don’t realize you can have a voice and actually make the work place better for everyone.”

This shift from provider centric primary care to team based primary care, benefits patients improves quality of care and decreases burnout and turnover for front line staff and providers.

The skills and competencies taught in the AHCP training program provide real-time solutions to common challenges and gaps. Each participant develops a professional development plan and implement what they learned immediately within their practice setting.  Some examples of how the skills taught and measurable outcomes has included:

Skill Taught

Measured Outcome

Effective Personal Leadership

• Strength Based Leadership and the ability to effectively lead change
• Ability to set appropriate professional boundaries

One large clinic system has Medical Assistant Team Managers (MATM)’s where each manager oversees a team of 5 MA’s.

“I learned I need to have regular (bi-weekly) check-ins with the staff I manage to identify challenges, improve their satisfaction with the job and manage their work. People now solve their own problems and I catch issues before they become overwhelming.” – MATM

Professional Skill Building

• Ability to establish trust and accountability within the team
• Ability to enhance workflows for efficiency

“She (participant) developed clear job descriptions for all the MA’s across our 5 clinics and documented a workflow for both front and back office.  Now everyone knows what they are accountable for, she helps measure their performance and it has helped as we hired new MA’s because we know how to train them.” – Clinic Administrator of a Community Health Center

Maximizing Patient Relationships

• Ability to facilitate patient agendas and patient driving goal setting
• Ability to interact and appropriately react to patients with complex health needs

We have a lot of patients with high needs so someone comes in for medical refill appointment and then the provider is in the room with them for too long. The provider is upset because the patient brought up 5 needs and now they are behind and every other patient is upset waiting.  I implemented patient agendas where I remind the patient why they are here and ask what else they want to talk about.  If it is something beyond the reason for the visit, I ask them to schedule another appointment or notify the Dr. the appointment reason needs to change before they go in there.  Now we have happier patients and my provider doesn’t run late. – HCP participant

The opportunities listed above are just the beginning. To learn more about participant experience with the training program, the curriculum, cost, benefits and customizable trainings please see our website.