The Advantages of Customized Training at Crouse Community Center

 

Source: Crouse Community Center

Source: Crouse Community Center

About Crouse Community Center

Crouse Community Center is a 120-bed rural nursing home and rehabilitation center located less than a mile from the village center of Morrisville, NY. The facility backs up to rolling farmland and looks out on the SUNY Morrisville campus. The single floor building includes six wings with a series of courtyards and patios, which are visible from resident rooms. The non-profit organization is certified by the New York State Department of Health.

Challenges

Crouse Community Center is required to provide annual mandatory compliance training to approximately 210 staff members. I spoke with Patty Venette, RN, BSN, RAC-CT, SAFE, and Director of Education, Employee Health and Infection Control at the center about her compliance training process. Until last year, Crouse Community Center’s in-service training was done face-to-face and documented by paper sign-in sheets and paper quizzes. As many as 20 people from different departments might attend one training, with all that attendance information needing to be manually entered into an Excel spreadsheet. Venette then had to sort the data by department in order to record participation and create reports. The paper-based process was cumbersome, time consuming, and difficult to manage—challenges that were highlighted when Venette prepared staff evaluations. This prompted her and other members of the management team to look for an online training solution.

The Solution

After careful consideration, the organization chose InService Solutions for its tracking, reporting, and customization capabilities. One of the major benefits of InService Solutions, Venette explained, is the ability to customize courses. She is currently working on content for an “Active Shooter” scenario module, which will link to an informational video on a government website. As part of the module development, Venette asked the local sheriff’s office to review their policies and procedures so they can be aware of the latest safety practices. The sheriffs’ office is also working with them on a walk-through of the center so they can get a better understanding of what to expect should an incident occur. The Active Shooter training will be an in-person training session reinforced by the online training available through InService Solutions.

Venette plans to combine the new content with their current Workplace Violence and Sexual Harassment modules on InService Solutions, turning three related topics into one module. The customization functionality of InService Solutions gives facilities like Crouse Community Center the flexibility to personalize training modules to meet their needs. We can’t wait to see where Crouse Community Center takes InService Solutions next.

Innovative P-TECH Partnership Paves the Way for College and Career Readiness

Students in St. Lawrence County have an exciting opportunity to participate in P-TECH, a program designed to prepare students for high potential health careers. Informed by current and projected industry trends, students take part in a rigorous, relevant and cost-free 4-6 year education sequence focused on building the knowledge and skills they need to have to be successful in their chosen career goals. Mentoring, workplace visits, job shadowing, and internships are integrated into each student’s P-TECH School experience. Engaged employer partners commit to ensuring that graduates are experienced enough in their chosen field to be considered “first in line” for jobs.

P-TECH is a collaborative effort among St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, HWNY, and employer partners. As a major contributor to the P-TECH School’s creation and implementation, HWNY has been instrumental in the development of a Skills Map that will ensure that students graduate with the entry-level skills that employers need. We could not be more excited to be a part of this process and are looking forward to the many future health care employees influenced by this program!

For more information on P-TECH, please contact Rachelle Romoda at (315) 386-4504 extension 10422 or visit the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES website.

How Community Memorial Hospital Successfully Tackles Compliance Training

About Community Memorial Hospital

Community Memorial, an acute care hospital located in Hamilton, New York, serves a population of 45,000 across 27 communities. This award-winning rural facility has been nationally recognized for its performance. The esteemed healthcare system provides primary care, sophisticated orthopedic surgery, same day surgeries, and a complete roster of diagnostic testing and ancillary services. Community Memorial Hospital employs over 300 persons.

Challenges

Amy Dennis, Infection Prevention Nurse and Nurse Educator at Community Memorial Hospital, spoke with me about compliance training at their organization. Around 2010, the organization began looking for an online solution for their annual mandatory compliance training. At that time, they were holding live compliance training sessions spread out over a few-weeks period, requiring staff to be away from their work at inconvenient times—a factor that sometimes kept them from attending the training altogether.

Solution: Online Compliance Training

Dennis and her team began to look for a way to make participation in the training easier for staff members, especially for those who are on call and can take advantage of the training during their down time. Management chose InService Solutions learning management system to deliver compliance training to employees. The transition was smooth, with staff picking up on the new training pretty quickly. Even staff members who have little or no computer skills were able to successfully use this system with minimal assistance from trainers. Community Memorial Hospital now has 16 customized courses available for staff compliance training, ranging from courses on Corporate Compliance, Emergency Preparedness, and Fire Safety to HIPAA, Infection Control, and Patient Safety, just to name a few. The courses are available online to staff members 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Flexible Reporting Tools

Before the online solution, staff took quizzes on paper which were kept on file to record participation in trainings. With InService Solutions, everything is recorded within the system and can be printed as a report. Dennis finds the reporting tools easy to use and informative. She is able to track staff grades and course completion, which simplifies the process of meeting accreditation requirements. Dennis can tell who took what courses and uses these reports to look for trends, like which topics may need reinforcement. InService Solutions is helping Community Memorial Hospital meet regulatory requirements proposed by both the Joint Commission and the Department of Health, and evidence of staff compliance is now available anytime with a few clicks.

Image Source: CommunityMemorial.org

 

Preparing for the MCAT

For students interested in applying to medical school, a historical moment occurred on April 17, 2015: The first version of the “new” MCAT was administered that day! The “old” version of the MCAT has been around since 1991, so this was a pretty major change.

The new MCAT has 230 questions and takes about 7.5 hours to finish. There are four sections: Biology and Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physics, Psychology/Behavioral Health, and Verbal Reasoning. Scores range from 118-132 per section, or 472-528 overall.

mcat

Source

Do I have to take the MCAT?

It depends on what you mean by “have to,” but if you want to attend a medical school in the U.S. then yes, taking the MCAT is almost universal. The only places I know of that don’t look at MCAT scores are three Canadian medical schools (University of Ottawa, McMaster University, Northern Ontario School of Medicine), but they have their own highly selective criteria for getting in.

When should I take the MCAT?

If you are going straight from college to medical school, medical school applications through the AMCAS system are due in December of your senior year. However, most medical schools offer interviews on a rolling basis so it is strongly encouraged that you finish as many applications as possible during the summer before your senior year. Working backwards from that, most students aim to take the MCAT during junior year of college.

If you take the MCAT during spring semester of junior year and don’t score as well as you’d like, you could try again in the summer. It is also becoming more popular to take a “gap year” or two after college before applying to medical school, so if don’t feel ready to take the MCAT junior year, it’s okay to take an extra year to prepare for the test and the rest of your application.

How do I study for the MCAT?

The MCAT requires a lot of studying – probably more than you’ve studied for any other test in your life! The average MCAT test-taker spends over 300 hours preparing for the exam, so start early. You can’t cram this all into one week. From my experience taking the MCAT in 2010, here are some tips:

#1: Go to class! The best thing you can do to prepare for the MCAT is to pay attention during your high school and college courses. Outside study materials will be no help if you don’t have a solid foundation in biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics on which to build. Other helpful classes include psychology, sociology, statistics, and biochemistry. Plan to take these during your first 2 years of college so that you then have time to review using MCAT-specific materials.

Photo by Pete / CC BY 2.0

Photo by Pete / CC BY 2.0

#2: Study using questions. Once you’ve taken the prerequisite classes, it’s much more efficient to do practice questions than to read lists and paragraphs of information until your eyes glaze over. Khan Academy has a large, FREE collection of passage-based questions you can check out. Kaplan and Princeton Review also sell question banks and test preparation books; I would recommend going to a bookstore to compare the two styles and see which fits you better.

#3: Use AAMC official MCAT preparation materials. Since the AAMC writes the test, it is good to at least look at the sample questions they offer, and even better, take a full length practice test a few weeks before the real one to get familiar with the format and see where you stand. Their “The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam” ($35) offers practice questions actually written by the test creators, and will offer valuable information on what to expect.

Little known fact: many public libraries actually have a section of “test preparation materials.” If you don’t want to buy the materials, see if your local library carries the MCAT guide and other books of practice questions. Sometimes you can also go into a larger bookstore and do test prep questions there if you don’t want to buy the book.

#4: Get a teacher. If you’ve exhausted all the free and AAMC materials, or if you prefer to be in a classroom with someone to guide your studying, consider a more personal approach. The two big test prep companies, Kaplan and Princeton Review, both offer group classes and private lessons. But if you just search “MCAT tutor” online, tons of other options appear too. This approach is more expensive than studying on your own, but many students find it a worthwhile investment.

Resources

Prepare for the MCAT Exam (AAMC)

What Do I Need to Know for the New MCAT 2015? (Kaplan)

A Medical Student’s Perspective: Why I’m Studying Public Health, Too

My name is Lizzy and I am currently enrolled in the joint MD/MPH program at SUNY Upstate Medical University, which means that I plan to graduate in 2017 with a doctorate of medicine (MD) and a master of public health (MPH) degrees.

Everyone knows what an MD is, but what about this public health business? Studying public health is quickly becoming more popular because it looks at the health of a community, instead of just individuals.

For example, traditional medicine might think about obesity as “This one person is overweight. He needs to eat less and exercise more.” But public health looks at the fact that obesity rates are high for a whole city and asks “Do the grocery stores sell fresh food? Are the fruits and vegetables affordable? Do people feel safe walking outside? Are there designated bike lanes for people to ride to work?”

In other words, public health tries to look at the root causes of health for a community. I chose to take an extra year* of classes and learn about public health because I think it is important to be aware of the bigger picture.

While medical school training is very important for learning how to diagnose and treat disease, public health taught me to think about how factors like education, income, race, neighborhood environment, and health insurance also affect our well-being. And the experience has fully met my expectations: I’ve learned to consider problems from a new perspective, to look at the world differently, and have also gained practical experience in program planning and health research.

Here are 10 of the greatest things that public health has achieved in the last 100 years. With my MPH training, I hope to add to the list!

  • Recognizing that tobacco is a health hazard
  • Decreased heart attack and stroke-related deaths
  • Vaccines
  • Safer workplaces
  • Motor vehicle safety (Seat belts)
  • Control of infectious diseases (Hand washing)
  • Safer and healthier foods
  • Fluoridation of drinking water
  • Family planning
  • Healthier mothers and babies

If you are interested in helping others to live healthier lives or in making a difference in your community through health initiatives, you should consider a public health degree. For more information about the Central New York MPH program and to see what graduates are doing with their degrees, check out their YouTube channel:

*Most MPH programs are a 2-year graduate program and MD programs are usually 4 years long, but Upstate’s MD/MPH joint degree is letting me finish both in 5 years.

Image source:

Upcoming SBIRT Training in Watertown, NY

Learn how to plan and implement a tailored brief intervention and education to patients with substance abuse problems in this no-cost SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) Training.
After completing the training, participants will be able to:
  • Employ motivational interviewing techniques to develop rapport with the patient
  • Implement a brief intervention that is tailored to the patient and the severity of the substance use problem
  • Modify the brief intervention for substance use problem as appropriate to the patient or situation
  • Provide the patient with education and resources needed

Details

Date: July 16, 2015
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (4 hours)
Location: Transitional Living Services of Northern New York, 482 Black River Parkway, Watertown NY 13601

How to Register

Please email (hlupia@nocofamilyhealth.org) or call (315-782-9450) Heather Lupia.

CNYCC Reaches Out to Larger Health Workforce Community

The Central New York Care Collaborative (CNYCC) is the Performing Provider System (PPS) designated for Central New York under the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program. Under DSRIP, over 200 healthcare partners across six counties will work together over the next five years to implement projects designed to reduce Emergency Department visits and unnecessary readmissions of the Medicaid population by 25 percent.  

CNYCC recognizes development of the workforce is an essential, cross-cutting element necessary to the successful transformation of the healthcare system. CNYCC has contracted with the Northern and Central Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) since the Fall of 2014.  The AHECs serve as the workforce vendor for CNYCC.  As such, they helped craft the workforce sections of the DSRIP application and implementation plan, and continue to assist with implementation of the workforce strategy.  The Workforce Workgroup of CNYCC has been meeting regularly since February of 2015 to provide feedback and insight into the Workforce Implementation Plan submitted to the New York State Department of Health June 1, 2015. With the five Workforce Milestones (see below) to be completed by December 31, 2015, we are now reaching out to the larger health workforce community for input and feedback with respect to workforce planning.

This email is being sent to you as a key stakeholder in the larger workforce community within the CNYCC region of Cayuga, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego counties. If you feel you have received this email in error or wish to unsubscribe, please see the options below. The Central New York Care Collaborative (CNYCC) is the Performing Provider System (PPS) designated for Central New York under the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program. Under DSRIP, over 200 healthcare partners across six counties will work together over the next five years to implement projects designed to reduce Emergency Department visits and unnecessary readmissions of the Medicaid population by 25 percent.  

CNYCC recognizes development of the workforce is an essential, cross-cutting element necessary to the successful transformation of the healthcare system. CNYCC has contracted with the Northern and Central Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) since the Fall of 2014.  The AHECs serve as the workforce vendor for CNYCC.  As such, they helped craft the workforce sections of the DSRIP application and implementation plan, and continue to assist with implementation of the workforce strategy.  The Workforce Workgroup of CNYCC has been meeting regularly since February of 2015 to provide feedback and insight into the Workforce Implementation Plan submitted to the New York State Department of Health June 1, 2015. With the five Workforce Milestones (see below) to be completed by December 31, 2015, we are now reaching out to the larger health workforce community for input and feedback with respect to workforce planning.

This email is being sent to you as a key stakeholder in the larger workforce community within the CNYCC region of Cayuga, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego counties. If you feel you have received this email in error or wish to unsubscribe, please see the options below.   

Lifelines Prevention Training

This first part of the Lifelines Trilogy educates students on the facts about suicide and students’ role in suicide prevention. It provides information on where to find suicide prevention resources in the school and community. Training materials are included for faculty and staff that provide accurate and practical information on identifying and referring students who might be at risk for suicide. Lifelines: A Suicide Prevention Program also includes a presentation for parents that answers questions about youth suicide and prevention, and it involves them in the school’s suicide prevention activities.
Designed for implementation in middle schools and high schools, it targets the whole school community by providing suicide awareness resources for administrators, faculty and staff, parents, and students. It fits easily into health class programming and lesson plans.
Date: June 4, 2015
Time: 8:00am-3:00 pm
Location: Transitional Living Services of Northern New York, 482 Black River Parkway, Watertown NY 13601To Register: Please contact Heather Lupia at hlupia@nocofamilyhealth.org or at (315) 782-9450.

*** No Cost****

Training and information provided by:

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