In-person training isn’t always an option. The solution our team developed instead has cut costs, eliminated confusion - and seen a 95% success rate.
The challenges of in-person training for health workers
We understand that upgrading the Community Health Toolkit (CHT), as with any major system, can present some challenges. Ensuring end users are well-supported often requires training, which can be expensive, resource intensive and sometimes impossible to do in person.
This led our team to consider how we could support partners to deliver training to community health workers (CHWs) and supervisors in a more affordable and sustainable way.
We spoke with health workers across different project sites to learn more about remote training through online learning. That’s how we discovered that in-person training materials like presentations and printouts are not easily accessible post-event, leading many CHWs to join WhatsApp groups where they can share information, receive support, and learn from their peers.
Our team brainstormed several solutions to capitalize on this opportunity, including signposting users to external training documentation, creating pop-up tips with advice, offline FAQs and embedded training videos.
We eventually landed on the concept of training cards.
Introducing in-app training cards: A game-changer
The benefits of training cards are that they are configured exactly as forms, meaning app developers can build them without needing to learn a new system.
They’re highly customizable, concise, and can include supporting imagery. They also work offline and can be seamlessly integrated with existing data systems, making it easy to see which users have completed them and who might need additional support.
The information conveyed in this format isn’t meant to replace a comprehensive onboarding program, but to support newly deployed features or changes to existing care guides.
Usability testing results: Measuring success
We ran usability tests and found that:
However, 64% of participants had trouble understanding their content. To address this, we developed resources for our documentation with guidance on best practices for creating clear and easy-to-use training card content.
Real-world impact: Scaling remote learning for users
Our approach is already yielding incredible results for CHT programs. Recently, due to budgetary and time constraints for in-person training, a national project deployed this feature to support the remote training of around 10,000 users on a new workflow.
Through performance data and user interviews we found that:
- Over 95% of users completed the training successfully
- The majority of users found the content to be clear and easy to understand, despite it being the first time they had encountered the new workflow
- Approximately 480,000 USD was saved on training costs including transport, per diem and venue hire.
One community health worker told us “Training cards are a simple way of passing knowledge to us”, while a supervisor said:
“The training cards were very clear and precise. It’s a sustainable form of training, especially now that the application will have frequent changes and would be costly to hold classroom training sessions every time the changes are rolled out.”
See the training cards in action in the video below:
How can I access this service.
The link for medic hospital system is not available
Hi Samuel, what service are you looking to access?