How Digital Competency Management Shows Its Value In Times Of Crisis

In March of 2022, the?American Hospital Association?sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee calling the workforce shortage hospitals were experiencing a “national emergency,” projecting the overall shortage of nurses to reach 1.1 million by the end of 2022. Even if there is a massive influx of people going into nursing, nursing schools across the country are struggling to expand their capacity to meet the rising demand for care.?And it’s not just nurses: Professionals from medical lab workers to paramedics are in short supply.

The healthcare workforce shortage has forced many healthcare clinicians and professionals to take on new responsibilities. Unfortunately, competency management is currently a heavily manual process. Time is wasted chasing papers and binders. Reporting to governing bodies requires valuable time. The staffing shortage and ongoing manual processes put quality and patient safety at risk.

The time has come to digitize competency management and allow staff to make updates at the point of care - anytime from any device.?The benefits of digitizing are significant and immediate.

Be Up And Running In Weeks

Anyone who has onboarded technology is used to implementation that takes months, if not years, to implement. With a cloud-based platform, and a dedicated implementation team, departments can be up and running within weeks.

Easy User Interface

One dashboard gives everyone visibility into the full learning ecosystem. Tracking learner and competency progress is simple.

In-System Reminders

Because reporting is done in real time, managers can see who’s falling behind and send reminders to those lagging behind – all from within the platform. What would take weeks to accomplish can be done within minutes when competencies are digitized.

Accessibility

Updates can be made at any time from any device. No more wasting time chasing people, paper, and binders to make a change or addition.

Job Satisfaction

Because the ‘paper-based’ administrative burden is lifted and staff can see their own performance and that of their teams, job satisfaction improves.

Conclusion

When staff are given tools to work efficiently, there is a ripple effect. In healthcare, that ripple effect is felt by teams, executives, and other care team members – but most important, it’s felt by patients. Because digital tools create efficiency, they also create more time with patients. Ask any healthcare worker why they chose their profession, you’re most likely to hear that they wanted to care for patients. When they get more time with patients, morale improves. Happy workers stick around. In a time when healthcare resignations are high, it’s important to take actions that will have an immediate impact.

While organizations can mitigate risk by rolling out digital tools one department at a time, the benefits of digital tools can be immediate and savings are compounded when there are more users.

If you are interested in learning more about Dossier's platform, Andrew Hawkins can help you get started.