How can eLearning and knowledge sharing be used to stay on top of ever-changing market access trends?

Introduction

Market access is a constantly developing field with regular updates across various country systems that can be incredibly difficult to keep up to date with. It is important that organisations have sufficient systems for sharing information and learnings to allow them to stay on top of these updates. There are many ways an organisation can share information internally to ensure staff are well versed in all the latest updates and developments, with one of the most valuable being eLearning.

How is information shared within the organisation?

There is a plethora of sources to allow organisations to stay updated with market access developments, including things such as:

• News
• Research papers
• Webinars
• Workshops
• eLearning
• Conferences

It is important that organisations have systems in place for keeping track of market access updates to be able to both share and refresh their knowledge efficiently. One method for disseminating this information within the organisation is through shared databases or knowledge bases which are universally updated by staff to ensure knowledge sharing is as easy as possible.¹ By allowing efficient knowledge sharing, these knowledge bases can improve productivity within the workforce and prevent loss of internal knowledge upon staff turnover.² Other methods for sharing information can be forums. These can be powerful platforms for asking questions, promoting discussions and encouraging inter- or cross-departmental discussions to allow information to be easily accessible.¹ Internal meetings are also a great way of dispersing information in an efficient manner; however, they need to be paired with some form of information capture to ensure the knowledge is maintained.

A fast-developing method for internal knowledge sharing is eLearning. eLearning, or electronic learning, is a method of delivering teaching and training through online or digital resources.³ With the ever-developing digital landscape, eLearning is pivotal in allowing companies to ensure training and development for staff is consistent and accessible. In terms of keeping up to date with market access trends, it can allow organisations to provide timely training in an engaging manner and monitor feedback and response rates.

What are the benefits of eLearning?

There are many advantages to organisations using eLearning, but these can broadly be broken down into five main categories: financial; accessibility and usability; time saving; standardisation and scalability; and feedback.⁴

1. Financial

Ultimately, eLearning saves money for organisations, as it is more cost-effective than face-to-face training by saving costs for travel, materials, and fees for trainers.

2. Accessibility and usability

eLearning is more accessible than conventional training methods due to the availability of digital resources. It allows ongoing access to materials, allowing employees to always refer to relevant learnings as a refresher. Furthermore, it is more user-friendly than typical staff training as it is more universal to different types of learners as it can be adjusted to different learning methods such as visual learners or audio learners, with some not benefitting from face-to-face learning, and can be made as interactive and engaging as possible.

3. Time saving

On average, eLearning takes up less time for employees as it removes the need for organising training and commuting and can be completed in your own time at your own pace rather than a pace set by the trainer. Associated with this is increased knowledge retention due to the availability of the training to be repeated on demand and the ability to cater to different types of learners as mentioned above, which can save time and money on future training.

4. Standardisation

eLearning allows for teaching and knowledge sharing to be made congruent across all staff so that organisations can guarantee all employees receive the same standard of training and that content is consistent and relevant. It also allows for scalability in training; once resources have been developed, they can be scaled and distributed as required within an organisation.

5. Feedback

The online nature allows for instantaneous feedback on the training employees are completing and allows for up-to-date analyses of employee response rates for management to track progress and performance.

Conclusion

With so many updates and changes in market access trends across various country healthcare systems, eLearning can be an integral tool for organisations to stay up to date with developments and provide a useful tool for staff knowledge sharing and training. With many advantages to the organisation, and the digital world constantly developing, eLearning is a hugely beneficial tool.

Reach out today to discuss how we can support your team development with our extensive range of Market Access eLearning modules.

Sources:

1. Benefits of using discussion forums in a knowledge management environment, https://www.kpsol.com/benefits-using-discussion-forums-knowledge-management-environment/, accessed 27/6/2022
2. What is an organisational knowledge base?, https://www.kmslh.com/blog/what-is-organizational-knowledge-base/, accessed 27/6/2022
3. What is eLearning?, https://www.learnupon.com/blog/what-is-elearning/, accessed 27/6/2022
4. 12 of the biggest benefits of eLearning for employees, https://www.edgepointlearning.com/blog/advantages-of-elearning/, accessed 27/6/2022