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Follow-up on your HIPAA education and training

HIM Connection, June 4, 2003

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Dear Colleagues:

To ensure that your facility's HPAA training was successful, you need to follow up on it by formally assessing the success of the education and training.

In order to do this, there are two questions to ask:

• Were the stated learning objectives accomplished?
• Has the new knowledge been successfully implemented in the job?

Basically, these two questions assess whether staff successfully learned and retained the information imparted during the training session. The difference is that one assesses the success in the short-term (during and immediately following the training) and the other assesses the success in the longterm (using the training consistently in day-to-day activities).

Success in the short term: Y

ou will need to monitor awareness and understanding as you work thorough the education and training session. Quizzes, games, and interaction such as question-and-answer sessions are good ways to do this. You may also want to include a quiz at the end of the education and training to make sure that the learners accomplished the training goals.

Success in the long term:

You can assess the long-term success by either directly following up with the learners, or by querying the learners' managers.

If you plan to follow up with the learners, consider sending out a brief questionnaire. Include sample situations and questions that will assess retention and knowledge application. Make sure that workforce members know that their answers will not have a negative consequence. To that end, you might consider making the questionnaire anonymous. The answers will let you identify whether the appropriate number of people have adequately retained the training. This plan will require buy-in from managers because they need to approve how much time employees spend on this task.

You might ask learners' managers a few questions to see if staff are applying the education and training, or provide a list of activities for the manager to assess. You could also simply let the managers and learners know that you are available to answer any questions about applying what the learners learned. Additionally, you can see how well the learners retained the information during the refresher education and training. Manager buy-in and knowledge of the education and training is essential in this case. Consider providing additional resources for managers to assist their workforce members as they apply the training.

This week's HIM Connection was excerpted from the loose-leaf manual and companion CD-ROM, the HIPAA Training Manual: Tools, Ideas, and Strategies for Running Your Workforce Education Program. It will help you deliver the HIPAA education and training to meet this requirement. It includes customizable, innovative tools, and creative methods to train your entire staff on HIPAA and make sure they remember what they've learned. Click here for more information or to order your copy.

Sincerely,
Laura Motta
Editorial Assistant

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