Ahead of the marcus evans National Healthcare CNO Summit Fall 2020, Trisha Coady discusses the need to ensure all nurses are equally competent, and how it can be achieved in an under-resourced environment

1. Interview with: Trisha Coady, SVP
Clinical Solutions, HealthStream
“As Covid-19 began in the US, we saw
the demand for nurse cross-training rise
dramatically,” according to Trisha
Coady, SVP Clinical Solutions, Health-
Stream. “To be in a constant state of
readiness and ensure all nurses are
equally competent, Chief Nursing
Officers will need to leverage technolo-
gies that can individualize competency
plans at scale,” she suggests.
HealthStream is a service provider at
the marcus evans National Health-
care CNO Summit Fall 2020, taking
place in Chicago, September 21-22.
What is the key opportunity in
healthcare that Covid-19 has
exposed?
As Covid-19 began in the US, we saw
the demand for nurse cross-training rise
dramatically. Given up to 20 percent of
healthcare workers could become
infected and hospitals were likely to
become overwhelmed, organizations
needed to quickly identify what nurses
could most easily be cross-trained and
determine what amount of training was
enough. Although Chief Nursing Officers
had always considered development of
frontline staff as critical, it was a
challenge for many to secure the
necessary resources to ensure they
were equipped to practice at their full
potential.
When a public health emergency occurs
that disrupts nearly all aspects of the
healthcare delivery system, most
organizations will prioritize the needs of
those who deliver care. This is because
the risk or reward grows the closer you
get to the patient. The key opportunity I
see given the low cost of deployment
and potential for widespread return is to
rethink how we develop nurses.
What challenges do you think
healthcare leaders face ensuring
their frontline staff are prepared for
another pandemic?
Before Covid-19, I had spoken to a
number of CNOs who saw a tremendous
opportunity to provide broader and
more sustainable outcome improvement
across several areas in healthcare. We
discussed how this would require an
individualized and ongoing approach to
competency development, as well as a
focus on critical thinking to ensure
knowledge and skills were being applied
more consistently into practice. At
present, we see point-in-time initiatives
that will generate meaningful improve-
ment initially, though will regress as
time progresses, challenging organiza-
tions’ already limited margins.
The primary obstacle was how this could
be operationalized given time and
resources are such precious commodi-
ties in healthcare. We know in most
other industries, the average span of
control is ten versus 40 for a typical
nurse manager. Perhaps more than any
other industry, healthcare must look at
leveraging innovative technologies and
automation.
Whether it is Covid-19 or another major
healthcare issue, it would face similar
challenges and require a similar,
scalable approach.
How are you leveraging Artificial
Intelligence to advance human
development?
The genesis of any effective solution
often comes from a collection of
experiences and intelligence gathered
from a community of like-minded
people. Having a more complete
awareness of what problem we are
trying to solve should always come
before any technology selection. We
knew many leaders did not want to be
using blanket education or transactional
learning methods that are often void of
learner engagement. We really needed
to create an intelligent matchmaking
system between nurses and content
that also appreciated the unique
workflows within complex healthcare
organizations.
We acquired two nurse-led assessment
firms that had a combined 40 years of
data and experience. Our teams
developed a proprietary clinical
taxonomy that triangulated student
information, assessment outcomes, and
development content to create
individualized learning paths. For critical
thinking, we felt strongly this could not
be achieved through multiple choice and
should replicate real-life. This is why we
leveraged artificial intelligence and
natural language processing, engaging
nurses in scenarios through a chat
interface.
Leaders and educators would be able to
quickly identify top performers versus
those who required additional support
through individual and aggregate
assessment results. Effectively, we
created an intelligent system that
identifies nurses’ competency gaps and
recommends personalized development
plans at scale. Given the ability to
approach competency development as a
continuous process, this allows
organizations to be in a constant state
of readiness with their frontline staff.
Any final comments?
While many things will change as a
result of Covid-19, one thing that will
remain the same is that nurses have
been and will always be at the bedside
24-7 providing care. To be in a constant
state of readiness and ensure all nurses
are equally competent, Chief Nursing
Officers will need to leverage technolo-
gies that can individualize competency
plans at scale. My hope is that we will
see greater investment in developing
next level people with systems that
appreciate the complexities of our
healthcare environment.
Why Healthcare Organizations Must Automate
Nurse Cross-Training Before the Next Pandemic
We need to
rethink how
we develop
nurses

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About HealthStream
As healthcare organizations seek ways to do more with less, developing next-level people is integral to their success. HealthStream
works side-by-side with healthcare organizations to ensure their people are confident, competent and credentialed, ready to
execute at the highest level.
HealthStream is the #1 advisor for human development to the healthcare industry, working with 4,000+ healthcare organizations
for the past 25 years to cultivate a more proficient and energized workforce. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, HealthStream has
additional offices in Jericho, New York; Boulder; Colorado; Denver, Colorado; San Diego, California; and Chicago, Illinois.
For more information, please visit www.healthstream.com
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To view the web version of this interview, please click here:
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About the National Healthcare CNO Summit Fall 2020
The 22nd National Healthcare CNO Summit is the premium forum bringing senior
level nursing executives and solution providers together. The Summit offers an
intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the
healthcare industry. Taking place at The Intercontinental, Chicago, Illinois,
September 21-22, the Summit includes presentations on examining COVID-19
response, strengthening the workforce in a nursing shortage era, new technologies
that impact healthcare, and understanding what quality healthcare means.
www.f1.nhcnosummit.com