Clinician Training Evolves in Step with Medicine
In the spring of 2018, Peggy DeFina, CPHRM, AIC, Assistant Director of Healthcare Risk and Claims Management (HRCM), and internal stakeholders from across the university began the implementation of Med-IQ, an online learning platform that offers a library of courses customized to its clients’ curricular needs.
“We get to select courses based on what we think is particularly relevant at the time,” DeFina said, citing HRCM’s addition of an implicit bias course in 2020 to its curricula as an example. “We paid an additional premium for the implicit bias course that we offered to each clinician, but we felt that it was very relevant at the time.”
Annually, DeFina and the HRCM team select or de-select courses to center the educational experience on “pertinent topics that we think are going to impact the university’s risk for adverse events, medical malpractice claims, and lawsuits,” among other areas, DeFina explained.
HRCM also involves Rutgers’ clinician community, seeking input from clinicians, residents, and students in both Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) graduate schools, the School of Dental Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Medical School, and Eric B. Chandler Health Center on the courses that the university should offer in upcoming semesters.
“We conduct outreach annually to ask for feedback; ‘Is there anything that you would like to see or anything there is a need for?’” DeFina said.
In 2020, the feelings of stress and burnout that pervaded the medical community at large amid the COVID-19 pandemic prompted HRCM to provide content focused on how to process the impact of the public health crisis. The choice to integrate COVID-19-conscious courses derived from reports of elevated stress levels among Rutgers’ clinicians, who voiced the value of classes that could help them grapple with the unprecedented events of the pandemic.
The wide menu of course offerings is the characteristic that really sealed the deal for Rutgers’ selection of the online learning platform.
“Not only does it have courses on medical records, but it also has courses on difficult discussions with patients and things of that nature, as well as specialized courses that are refreshed annually for various specialties,” DeFina said. “For instance, we have specialized classes for podiatry, dental, surgery, and OB/GYN, and clinicians can go in and see the course content that is directed at their medical specialty.”
Each course counts for one continuing education credit hour. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) mandates that practicing clinicians and registered nurses must participate in Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) educational activities, respectively, throughout their lives. By doing so, clinicians and nurses earn credits that can be used to fulfill CME and CNE requirements. The purpose of CME and CNE is to promote life-long learning and to help clinicians and nurses keep pace with advances in the medical arena that can affect the way that they provide patient care. Through the Med-IQ platform, Rutgers’ physicians and nurses can complete courses to earn the CME and CNE credits needed to maintain their licenses.
In the 2021-2022 academic year, Rutgers clinical providers have the ability to take a variety of courses customized to their role and specialty. Clinicians also have the opportunity to be educated in the best practices for documentation and the risks associated with deviating from these practices in the context of the 21st Century Cures Act, developed to improve patients’ access to their own medical data. Courses are also available to first- through third-year residents and fulfill the ACGME’s Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) requirements.
These are just a few examples of the focused, clinically applicable training that HRCM extends to Rutgers’ clinicians and clinicians in training. Strategies to navigate the patient-provider relationship, avoid diagnostic errors, and cognitively recognize and think through one’s assumptions, beliefs, and biases are also included in Rutgers’ hand-picked curriculum.
These courses dovetail with HRCM’s complementary offering, its Clinical Patient Safety Online Education Program, launched in July 2021. The online education program is unique to RBHS and its providers in that it was designed to enhance patient safety, prevent medical errors and adverse outcomes, and reduce the frequency and severity of medical malpractice claims and litigation. The online portal offers around-the-clock phone, email, and chat support for RBHS learners who may require assistance as they work through the course material.
For more information on the Clinical Patient Safety Online Education Program and Med-IQ, please visit Healthcare Risk and Claims Management’s website.
