Learning Harbor News

Learning Harbor has some exciting additions and improvements to announce!

MODULES
In keeping with our commitment to providing up-to-date content and information for our customers, we have recently updated the following modules:

• End of Life Care Management
• Safety for Home Health Employees
• Imminent Death: Signs and Symptoms
• SBAR for Nurses

As always, we welcome your feedback and would love to hear if you have any suggestions for future modules that you would find useful.

USER DIRECTIONS
To make your Learning Harbor experience even more user-friendly, we have developed "new and improved" directions for Superusers, Managers, and Employees/Students.  These new directions give step-by-step instructions for how to easily and effectively navigate the system.   Click here to access the new directions. 

LONG-TERM CARE UPDATE
We now have continuing education for Long-Term Care employees available on the Learning Harbor website at a reduced rate via a link to one of our partners, CEUS-R-EZ. 

CUSTOMERS
The Learning Harbor community continues to grow!  We are a national organization with clients in over 20 states.  We have expanded from acute care to specialty hospitals, surgical clinics, college healthcare programs, hospice, long term care and home health.  If you know of any additional organizations that might benefit from our services, please let us know!

What Our Subscribers, Managers and Administrators Are Saying:

Customer Service

• I like the examples given for responding to customers. I was also enlightened by the fact that my co-workers from other departments are also customers.
• Great! I like the on-line format. Very convenient.
• Excellent reminders of things we should know.

General Infection Control

• I think that this is an effective way to do modules. It only takes a few minutes to figure it out, and you are on your way!
• Glad the importance of hand washing was stressed. So important, and yet most people do NOT do it.
• User friendly and a great idea.
• Draws attention to basic hygiene precautions that are taken for granted.
• On-line testing is a great idea. THANK YOU!

Electrical Safety

• I like the cartoons. It makes the reading more enjoyable.
• Electricity is a deadly killer and to learn as much about prevention on the topic is an excellent idea.

Cultural Diversity

• It is nice to see that the hospital acknowledges the difference in cultures. Great module. Thanks!
• I like the module because it helps people to think "out of the box" and value others' beliefs.
• It gave a good overview of information.

Patient's Bill of Rights

• The links to obtain additional information were great.

Strains and Sprains

• This is an important module to remind everyone to take good care of their backs, and how hard sitting at a desk all day can be on the back.

Other Comments

• Easy for review and to remember.
• Visuals make it more interesting and easier to learn than a lot of reading.
• Simple and straightforward. That's good!
• Convenient and time saving.
• Very easy. Should not be a problem teaching the staff.
• Our employees like it that they don't have to sit in a classroom for six hours.
• It does not wreak havoc on our staffing!
• Better able to monitor and obtain full compliance. Less falls through the cracks.
• This is the best orientation I have ever received at a hospital. Usually, the presenters are paraded through with canned messages. This was interactive and kept my interest.

Testimonials

• Nason Hospital
• Francis E. Parker Memorial Home
• Special Tree Rehabilitation System
• St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center

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A Sample of Our Clients Includes:

Weston County Health Services - Newcastle, WY
Special Tree Rehabilitation Services - Romulus, MI
Hospice of Savannah - Savannah, GA
Allegany College of Maryland - Cumberland, MD
Tennessee Orthopaedic Clinics  (Multiple Sites)
Ann Arundel Community College - Arnold, MD
Freemont-Rideout Health Group - Marysville, CA
Francis Parker Homes - East Brunswick, NJ
Hoboken University Med. Cent. - Hoboken, NJ
Cobre Valley Hospital - Globe, AZ
Nantucket Cottage Hospital - Nantucket, MA
Colusa Regional Medical Center - Colusa, CA
Bridgeway Senior Services - Bridgewater, NJ
Puget Sound Surgical Center - Edmonds, WA
VNA Home Care of Mercer County - Trenton, NJ
American Access Care - Glen Rock, PA
Nason Hospital - Roaring Springs, PA
Burke Rehabilitation - White Plains, NY

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Learning Harbor Features

Your successful e-learning program begins when your Learning Harbor representative assists you with your customization initiatives and guides you in selecting options for your employee module catalog assignments.

Great courseware is not of value until it is used by your employees. We help you prepare for the arrival of what may be a new way of learning.

After your web-based training is in place, Learning Harbor will continue to support your training administrators with all aspects of your program as it grows to its full potential.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Learning Harbor
PHONE: 1.609.658.4945
info@learningharbor.com

Web-based Company Collaborates with Medical Center

Learning Harbor, Inc., a web-based training provider, recently combined with St. Mary Medical Center of Langhorne, PA, and Nursing Spectrum, to sponsor a complimentary seminar for area educators and human resource personnel. The topic, "The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Education and Training" was presented by transcultural nursing expert, Dula Pacquiao, Ed.D, RN, C.T.N.

She spoke of the challenges to be found in the development of in-service programs and in promoting teamwork among a culturally diverse employee population. Characteristics of culture include: values, beliefs, practices, meanings of experience and behavior. Dr. Pacquiao emphasized that these characteristics can be manifested and/or latent. Comparisons were made between American and foreign nurses regarding social hierarchy, leadership styles, decision making, time orientation, work ethic and caring roles. She stressed the fact that a diverse staff presents issues in several areas, among them: recruitment; the orientation process; and mentoring.

Dr. Pacquiao concluded her program with the discussion of organizational support, community support by co-ethnics, multi-cultural professional environment and exposure to other cultures as factors that can promote acculturation.

Evaluations have been very positive and indicate a strong interest in additional programs of this type that could be presented to a wider audience of healthcare professionals.

Pictured L to R:

Ginny Stemhagen, MA, RN, CNAA, President, Learning Harbor
Dula F. Pacquiao, Ed.D, RN, C.T.N., Professor, Keane University
Debbie Capone-Swearer, MSN, RN, BC, Manager, Nursing Education, St. Mary Medical Center

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Learning Harbor
PHONE: 1.609.658.4945
info@learningharbor.com

Revamping Regulatory Training in a California Hospital

Tahoe Forest Hospital District decides to use Internet-based learning and reduce some of the classroom training and in-house computer-based training to meet the regulatory educational needs of its diverse employees.

Live training, due to many new federal regulations, can take 1-2 days to complete. It takes people out of their departments, and we have to find healthcare professionals to cover for the people who are in class. As an alternative to live training, we purchased an Intranet training program. However, we soon came to realize it couldn't offer the advantages web-based training does.

Truckee, California, the home of Tahoe Forest Hospital District, is located approximately 15 miles north of Lake Tahoe, and 30 miles west of Reno. Tahoe Forest Hospital is a nonprofit facility owned by the Tahoe Forest Hospital District covering a 500-square mile area, which includes the north shore of Lake Tahoe and the communities of eastern Placer and Nevada counties. In 1966, the hospital expanded to 42 beds and by 1991 30 more beds were added.

An eight - bed acute care facility licensed in the State of Nevada as a Critical Access Hospital (Incline Village Community Hospital) was also opened to serve the healthcare needs of the community. The Tahoe Forest Hospital District has 500 + employees.

PROBLEM

In 1999, Tahoe Forest Hospital District selected an Intranet training solution for many of its employees because it was more cost effective to use computerized education rather than live training. Our problem was we had to internally maintain the data and the system. This system was based on our server and when something went wrong we had to fix it.

Approximately a year ago, we were faced with a second problem. The company that provided our training data dissolved and was purchased by another company. With the buyout of the old company, we decided that Intranet learning was not the best type of learning for all our employees.

SOLUTION

Before we considered making any changes to Internet-based learning, we checked with other organizations to see what kind of training and what companies they were using. We contacted a few web-based learning companies to find out what their features were. We determined web-based learning would be the most efficient and cost-effective way to educate our healthcare employees. This spring we signed a contract with Learning Harbor, Inc. because they provided our facilities with the following advantages.

• The purpose of this modular program is to allow employees to meet JCAHO and other mandated education requirements.

• The modules are shorter, easier for our employees to handle, and takes less time to complete than our in-house computer-based training program.

• The program challenges our employees because they can "place out" of a module if they pass the test.

• Managers will be able to access their employee reports on demand without contacting the Education Department.

• The new program has a home option that in time we may use.

• Learning Harbor will take care of any computerized glitches that may occur. We won't have to deal with that aspect of the program.

RESULTS

Selecting Learning Harbor's web-based learning solution will save us over $100 per employee per year for their compliance training. Furthermore, each of our facilities' employees will have access to web-based learning.

We also have a contract with EduTracker, a company that focuses on our internal education department. This company allows us to print flyers, certificates and register our employees for all classes. Learning Harbor is coordinating their efforts with EduTracker so we can print what our employees achieve with Learning Harbor through the EduTracker system.

SOURCE

Deborah White
Education Department Coordinator
Tahoe Forest Hospital District
Truckee, CA.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Learning Harbor
PHONE: 1.609.658.4945
info@learningharbor.com

Meeting all of the JCAHO standards is a daunting task for just about every healthcare facility in the country. One area that poses a particularly difficult challenge in today's healthcare arena is the tremendous amount of training and education that is required under the JCAHO standards. It is difficult to take staff away from their clinical duties to attend inservices and annual mandatory training. The growing staffing shortages has only made this situation worse.

Burke Rehabilitation Center in New York, with 600 employees, found a creative solution to their training and education needs. In February 2002, Burke became a customer of Learning Harbor, Inc. of Princeton, NJ, a provider of online education and training for healthcare employees. Instead of having to attend long, boring classroom-style training, Burke employees now fulfill their annual education requirements on their work or home-based computers via the interactive Learning Harbor website. Employees have the freedom to choose when and where they want to complete their required education.

While some of Learning Harbor's customers offer the online education as an additional vehicle for completing annual training, Burke now requires all of its employees to use the Learning Harbor system for their "annual mandatories". Since Burke no longer offers "live" classroom-style training for their annual mandatories, their educators have more time to develop new programs and special interest inservices.

When Laura Hrubi, of Burke's Human Resources Department was asked how employees have responded to the new online method of education, she reported, "employees are having fun with it. Some have expressed positive comments about not having to go to the meetings and being able to complete the annual requirements on their own. It is nice to walk onto a nursing unit and see a bunch of employees huddled around a computer showing each other how to use the Learning Harbor system and helping 'newcomers' to computers to navigate the system."

The true testament to Learning Harbor's success at Burke came during their recent JCAHO survey in May. The JCAHO surveyors heard about the implementation of Learning Harbor when questioning the clinical staff about their annual education. The staff was excited to report that they now had a new way of meeting their mandatory requirements that they found much more interesting and "fun" than sitting in a classroom.

The Nurse Surveyor wanted to hear more information about the Learning Harbor system, so the Human Resources Department arranged an impromptu demonstration for her. After seeing the system's components, the comprehensive yet simple testing and record-keeping system, and the extensive reporting capabilities, Laura Hrubi of Human Resources said of the Surveyor, "she thinks it is great and that many hospitals that have difficulty reaching staff with required training would be impressed as well. She was especially impressed with the ability to personalize the program with information specific to our own hospital. She was also very focused on aggregate trends and was happy to see our reports. She felt that employees with less than 100% could be looked at for additional training needs."

In today's healthcare environment, healthcare facilities need to be as creative as possible to meet the myriad of regulations and requirements imposed upon them. The online training offered by Learning Harbor is one cost-effective solution that can have a huge impact on compliance. For more information about what Learning Harbor can do to assist your organization, visit www.learningharbor.com.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Learning Harbor
PHONE: 1.609.658.4945
info@learningharbor.com

Learning Harbor, headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, and SVI Systems, Inc. a Peoria, Illinois-based company are co-marketing their products to change the way healthcare education is delivered. Learning Harbor features web-based compliance training for healthcare employees. All courses are designed at a basic reading level. SVI Systems, Inc., offers Instant HealthLine, a digital on-demand system for the hospital industry geared to patient education.

Learning Harbor, a relatively new company, focuses on the regulatory requirements for orientation and annual review. Healthcare employees cite the ease of use and flexibility as major advantages to the system. Employees are able to meet their training requirements both at work and at home as well have access to their own records. Yet, at the same time, they are actively participating in the learning process.

SVI's Instant HealthLine makes patient education available on-demand in the patient's room. It uses the hospital's existing televisions and PCs for convenient viewing. The patient's educational viewership is documented and includes quizzes. Patient and employee surveys can be created for feedback on patient satisfaction and employee morale.

"Our mission and goals are identical," says Virginia Stemhagen, president, Learning Harbor. "We want to enhance the methods of both teaching and learning, address the learning needs of diverse employee populations, automate documentation and record keeping, improve compliance with required education, and provide support for the process."

Both companies have systems designed to increase staff efficiency, improve access to training, give staff and patients more control over their own learning, and decrease the time needed for instruction.

"This partnership," says Joe Nora, SVI vice president, HealthCare Division, "allows both companies the ability to offer the complete education package to every healthcare facility: on-site video-on-demand patient and staff education along with web-based delivery of staff mandatory, competency and continued education. This is a natural partnering situation."

In addition to these state-of-the-art features, security provisions are built into the system. Each employee receives an individual password to eliminate the problems that can stem from multiple users.

For more information about Learning Harbor's web-based compliance programs, contact Virginia Stemhagen at (609) 658-4945 or checkout the web site at www.learningharbor.com.

For more information about SVI Systems, Inc., contact Joe Nora at (800) 255-1143, ext. 7246 or checkout the web site at www.SVI.com.