Pontiac Hospital Goes 3-D With Training Videos
While 3-D may be the latest trend in entertainment, Pontiac-based 3-D Experiential Training Co. is bringing the proven high impact technology to hospitals and major medical centers.
In fact, Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital Regional Medical Center became the first health care institution in the country to use immersive 3-D video and audio technology to help solve critical health care problems.
"Just as people have been captivated by Avatar and other 3-D movie experiences, so have employees who have received our high-impact 3-D safety training programs," said Dave Hodgson, president of 3-D ETC. "With the patient safety series, we are applying the proven success from immersive training we have had in other industries to raise the bar in patient safety."
Immersive training simulates live situations, giving people the virtual sensation and emotional impact of their actions. Studies have shown that immersive 3-D training has a much higher impact on people than traditional training. The need for more impactful training in healthcare is evident from recent statistics:
* Hand hygiene -- The Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly two million people each year become ill unnecessarily as a result of hospital-acquired infections -- and 90,000 of them die as a result.
* Misadministration of medication -- In July 2006, the Institute of Medicine published a report showing at least 1.5 million U.S. residents are harmed or killed each year because of medication errors, leading to at least $3.5 billion annually in extra health care expenses. Equally alarming, on average, a patient hospitalized in the U.S. will experience at least one medication error per day. At least one-quarter of injuries caused by medication errors are clearly preventable.
* Communication / patient handoffs -- According to the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, communication problems accounted for nearly 70 percent of reported sentinel events between 1995 and 2006.
"Even the most diligent organizations have found that rigorously employing traditional methods, including hands-on and video training, process and system redesign, strict adherence to JCAHO standards, and increased management attention to the problem, have not significantly changed staff safety behaviors or yielded satisfactory results over time," Hodgson said. "With safety issues, it is critical to get the individual employee motivated to take personal responsibility for making the right choices and doing their job correctly. The key is to capture peoples' attention and touch them emotionally, and that's what makes our 3-D programs so effective."
The video series was developed by 3-D ETC with the cooperation and collaboration of teams at POHRMC and other major health systems in the Metro-Detroit area.
3-D ETC has been delivering safety training programs since 2005. Its clients include many types of commercial, industrial and government organizations as well as healthcare institutions seeking to reduce costly medical errors and prevent workplace accidents. The company incorporates baseline and follow-up surveys into its training programs to determine the message and action retention and other measures of training effectiveness. Surveys of more than 25,000 participants in the past year, for example, show a large and statistically significant increase in awareness in Attention and Pacing, two of the four categories covered in the training program, and a sustained effect at 40 days and again at six months after completing the program. The data also shows that employee awareness for making safe Choices and managing Stress is high coming into the training and remains high after the training experience.
"People learn in different ways, but the 3-D impact really hits home and many call it an awakening," said Hodgson. "The participants are fully engaged, distractions are at a minimum, and our surveys show that the result is a positive and sustainable shift in attitude, mindset and performance."
"Nowhere is safety training more important than in healthcare," said Dr. Larry Abramson, director of patient safety for POHRMC. "We are proud to have helped 3-D ETC develop these training videos and we are excited to apply them in our own training."
Companies interested in individualized demonstrations of the 3-D Patient Safety Series can contact Karen Moore at karen.moore@3-detc.com or call (248) 594-4620.
