Staff Development Department supports employee education and professional development

Gwen Wysocki, DNP, RN-BC, Executive Director of Staff Development, says she keeps a Bill Gates quote in mind to keep her and her team thinking forward: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”  

Indeed, dealing with challenges brings opportunity to create more learning opportunities, which help employees and an organization grow, she says.

On a continual basis, Loma Linda University Health’s Staff Development team delivers a comprehensive and diverse range of learning opportunities, such as new employee orientation, legal and regulatory requirements, continuing education, and professional development. Across the entire LLUH organization, Staff Development supports all LLUH entities and individuals including employees, physicians, volunteers, and LLU staff, faculty, and students.

The Staff Development team of educators, trainers, instructional designer, application analyst, coordinators, and administrative secretary is dedicated and tenacious in supporting the LLUH mission and values. They are committed to the development, delivery, and documentation of education and training throughout our Loma Linda University Health system. 

Staff Development maintains a current inventory of nearly 5,000 course options. If an individual were to take each course, they would need about 12,500 hours to complete the entire catalog. Virtually every employee, physician, faculty, and volunteer position require some type of standard-related regulatory education, while many of LLUH’s healthcare professionals require continuing education (CE) units to maintain a professional license.

“When the State of California, Joint Commission, or any of many regulatory agencies identifies an issue or problem, we assist in the development of the plan of correction education for employees,” Wysocki says. “We must document that training has happened, whether through an in-service, e-learning module, or one-page learning sheet.”

For LLUH employees, the BLUE (Basic Learning Units for Employees) Book is an example of annual interaction with Staff Development’s efforts. California regulations require that employees annually review the content highlighted in the BLUE Book, such as updated policies, process reminders or changes, and introduction to select new requirements. Staff Development offers four different versions of BLUE Book — for clinical staff, non-clinical staff, physicians, and volunteers.

The Staff Development team maintains orientation training to ensure regulatory requirements are met. Along with ongoing core courses, the team also develops courses whenever a significant need arises. For example, during the Campus Transformation Project and the opening of the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus (TMC), the team collaboratively developed, introduced, and ensured documentation of completion for more than 90 courses. It also assisted with attendance documentation for numerous tours to introduce employees to the new facility. Fully 100% staff training was required to achieve California Department of Public Health (CDPH) licensure of our new TMC. 

Courses are offered and documented utilizing the three-portal, electronic Learning Management System (LMS). Courses in OWL Portal are available for internal LLUH audiences only and are free of charge. The course history tool helps to document learning completion, while other tools allow monitoring of an individual’s current license and/or credentials. 

The CE Portal is available to LLUH or internal individuals and external or community individuals. Courses, symposiums, or conferences offered for registration in the CE Portal are available for a fee. In addition, this Portal captures the learning transcript for LLUH individuals, including both CE and non-CE learning.   

Moodle is the third LMS Portal where eLearning or online courses may be completed.   

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Staff Development offerings were about 90 percent in-person, with the remaining 10 percent offered through an e-learning format. Since March 2020, online offerings now make up roughly 70 percent of courses, 10 percent are hybrid courses, and 20 percent are in-person. In-person courses focus on those that require skill acquisition, demonstration, or content-appropriate discussions.

Looking forward, Wysocki is excited to consider integrating appropriate generative artificial intelligence (AI) components into course development and delivery. She also hopes to convert the current continuing education application and file process into a paperless, electronic design and structure.