Video made in-house to educate staff on falls
Finding a new way to educate employees about fall prevention is a big challenge because, though the topic is important, it can be hard to keep people's attention. One hospital found that an educational video starring its own employees and presented with a bit of humor effectively delivers the necessary information.
The effort began about two years ago when leaders at Long Beach (CA) Memorial Medical Center were seeking a way to improve education efforts and comply with the National Patient Safety Goal on fall prevention, explains Miriam Wedemeyer, OTR/L, JD, ergonomics program director at the hospital, part of MemorialCare Health System (MHS).
"To deal with this issue, our ergonomics team formed a consortium of representatives from adult and pediatric nursing, Occupational Medical Services, the Patient Safety Committee, and adult and pediatric rehabilitation therapies," Wedemeyer says. "After some discussion about how to get people's attention and what we had already done in the past, we knew the ultimate solution was a video."
In preparation, the team members developed a storyboard presentation and piloted it at the hospital's next nursing skills education fair. From there, they located a professional production company that worked closely with the consortium to write the script, film, edit, and produce the video.
"The consortium itself was cohesive, and ideas flowed freely. Each constituency brought its own expertise to the table," Wedemeyer says.
The project team determined the necessary criteria for a successful training video:
evidence-based;
entertaining and interesting;
simple and practical;
brief: preferably 5 and no more than 10 minutes;
multiple scenarios;
repeatable by multiple trainers to reach all employees;
consistent message, no matter who presents it and when.
Six month investment of time
From concept to finished product, the project took six months, including securing funding. The video production was funded by grants from the Memorial Medical Center Foundations. Consortium members contributed time as part of their jobs. (See the story on p. 31 for the key information presented in the video.)
Casting was one of the most important tasks, Wedemeyer says. The consortium wanted to use hospital employees instead of professional actors for two reasons, she explains. First, hospital employees would give the video more of a realistic feel and make it specific to Long Beach Memorial rather than looking like an off-the-shelf education video.
The second reason was that the employees watching the video could see their friends and colleagues in the video, which would keep them interested and entertained, especially in the more comedic moments. (See the story below right for more on the comedic element.) "We wanted as many employees as possible from every one of our six hospital campuses in Los Angeles and Orange counties in the MemorialCare Health System," Wedemeyer says. "They had to be believable, yet entertaining in their roles."
The consortium also wanted a corporate executive to open and close the video, to give it credibility. MHS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tammie Brailsford, RN, stepped in.
The video shoot took place over two days in an unoccupied patient room and other non-patient locations.
Prior to release, each constituency previewed the video and approved the content. To release the video, Brailsford encouraged the consortium to put on a movie premiere, complete with popcorn. "It became a celebration for the entire enterprise," Wedemeyer says. "Hundreds of employees attended the premiere, where we staged a ceremony for comical awards with statuettes and short acceptance speeches."
The video is made available on the MHS intranet and is frequently used for nursing education. Wedemeyer says it has been a huge success. The keys to the success of the project were the inclusion of multiple constituencies, sponsorship by C-suite executives, and serving up serious material with a "spoonful of humor," she says.
"More than a year later, I still get compliments from employees on how great the video is and that it has impacted their knowledge and implementation of fall prevention procedures and activities," Wedemeyer says. "Its light-hearted nature, especially when the audience knows the players, makes it a highly effective teaching tool."
Source
Miriam Wedemeyer, OTR/L, JD, Ergonomics Program Director, Long Beach (CA) Memorial Medical Center. Telephone: (562) 933-0093. E-mail: [email protected].
Finding a new way to educate employees about fall prevention is a big challenge because, though the topic is important, it can be hard to keep people's attention. One hospital found that an educational video starring its own employees and presented with a bit of humor effectively delivers the necessary information.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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