Medical Device Train the Trainer Summit

Medical Device Train the Trainer Summit

Event Recap

Engaging Learners | Leveraging Tactile Experiential Education | Effective Course Evaluation

By Kate Jeter, Director at Q1 Productions

Attending the Annual Q1 Medical Device Train the Trainer Summit is always a pleasure, and seeing so many familiar faces from over the past decade solidified the notion that this event remains an important opportunity and gathering of trainers, both those facilitating courses for internal sales and commercial teams, as well as skills and product training provided for healthcare professionals. One of the core areas covered throughout the meeting focused on increasing engagement with trainees; before, during, and after the completion of the course, in order to increase the retention and use of educational deliverables covered in the course.

Whether training internal commercial teams or external professionals, engagement is the key to successful training, and throughout the two-day program in New Orleans, professional trainers from industry stakeholders demonstrated how to engage audiences in their own presentations, the majority of which were delivered in a hands-on, workshop format. Beyond engaging learners, the shift from didactic learning to tactile, experiential learning was also covered in-depth, again with presentations mirroring this format, and focusing on audience engagement.

With recent research indicating that the greatest learning occurs when teaching others, trainers focused on training each other in new skills and sharing best practices for effective training for adult learners. A third core aspect discussed throughout the meeting was the ongoing challenge of evaluating training, with a focus on going beyond score sheets to truly measure the impact of training courses. Attendees offered a wide variety of areas being measured; increased product sales, purchasing and utilization and procedural improvements, but all agreed that collecting and tracking training results remains a challenge. Consistent follow-up to re-engage learners, and following up at specified intervals were additional suggestions for effective monitoring of training impact.

Back at Q1 headquarters, we are already considering ways of increasing the effectiveness of training for next year’s 2018 Medical Device Sales Training & Clinical Education program, taking on feedback from participants on providing additional time for audience engagement, and highlighting new case studies featuring innovative products and technologies and the best practices for training on those types of medical devices. Did you attend the meeting with us in New Orleans, or would you like to get involved in the planning for 2018? Leave your feedback below to let us know how we can continue to improve this exciting meeting.