Cross training Staff for COVID 19

COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus is a respiratory illness that has developed to become a global pandemic in the past few months. The rapid spread of the illness in different parts across the globe has disrupted people’s lives resulting in the emergence of the idea of a new normal. Healthcare organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) have developed health and safety protocols to help curb the spread of the virus. The disease has caused significant disruptions in clinical and non-clinical environments including business settings. Societies across the world can no longer afford to keep their everyday activities on hold given the devastating impact of the virus. As a result, the establishment of suitable measures to curb the spread of the virus while carrying out daily life activities in normal life has become critical. One of the measures that could help achieve this, particularly in the business environment, is cross-training a multi-disciplinary clinical staff to work in COVID-19 environments.
Cross-training is essential in promoting the development of skills that would help cater for the needs of critically ill patients. Through such training, a multi-disciplinary clinical staff will develop the requisite knowledge and skills under the supervision of trained and experienced healthcare providers like critical care physicians. Cross-training is also an upskill training program designed to prepare staff to work outside their current roles as a means of establishing a larger pool of human resource that could support in critical care areas (Lawson, 2020). Several efforts or strategies can be employed for such training, which can be done through in-person classroom training or computer-based training (CBT).
One of the efforts/strategies for cross-training a multi-disciplinary clinical staff to work in COVID-19 environments is by having staff take turns at each other’s jobs. Using this strategy, employees’ roles are not left unattended to and minimal disruptions to their work occurs. However, when employing this strategy, the learning content should be concise and precise rather than being overly in-depth. Precise and concise learning enhances staff mastery of the concepts while an overly in-depth training framework could be complex and generate disruptions to normal operations. In addition, precise learning ensures staff knows the basic and are able to respond to any emerging demands or needs in the environment.
The second strategy that could help equip a multi-disciplinary staff to work in COVID-19 environments is developing a talent strategy designed to realign and upscale clinical skills. The talent strategy should focus on enhancing staff critical digital and cognitive abilities, adaptability and resilience, and social and emotional skills. This would require increasing staff training budgets and commitment to reskilling the workforce (Agrawal et al., 2020). As part of the talent strategy, customized learning journeys to narrow critical skill gaps should be established. In this regard, social-sharing tools and live video sessions could be utilized as digital tools to promote and enhance learning.
Third, in-person programs should be designed and executed in line with the most conservative guidelines and protocols developed by local and global health bodies (Kshirsagar et al., 2020). Once these programs have been designed, they should be communicated clearly to staff and executed with minimal disruptions to normal operations. The learning programs should be updated consistently in line with changes to established guidelines and protocols. Any changes to upcoming learning programs should be communicated to employees in a clear manner. Precautions to undertake during the in-person learning programs including enhance hygiene practices, social distancing and alternatives greetings should be communicated in advance. Additionally, various avenues for participation in the learning should be designed including cloud-based document sharing and virtual collaboration tools.
References
Agrawal, S., Smet, A.D., Lacroix, S. & Reich, A. (2020, March 7). To Emerge Stronger from the COVID-19 Crisis, Companies Should Start Reskilling Their Workforces Now. Retrieved June 28, 2020, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/to-emerge-stronger-from-the-covid-19-crisis-companies-should-start-reskilling-their-workforces-now#
Kshirsagar, A., Mansour, T., McNally, L. & Metakis, M. (2020, March). Adapting Workplace Learning in the Time of Coronavirus. Retrieved June 28, 2020, from https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business Functions/McKinsey Accelerate/Our Insights/Adapting workplace learning in the time of coronavirus/Adapting-workplace-learning-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-vF.ashx
Lawson, J.T. (2020, May 7). COVID-19 FAQs: Cross-training Nurses, Nonclinical Workers. Retrieved June 28, 2020, from https://news.sanfordhealth.org/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/upskilling-reassigning-nonclinical-workers/