Course delivery
In our experience with online medical learning, we understand that engagement is the most important factor to determine whether the student “gets it” or simply “blows through the course”. Fortunately, we have found in our business that delivering a great product and an accessible interface greatly improves engagement, stimulates learning retention and leads to great customer feedback.
Our top selling products today include life support training (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) targeted to nurses which have missed their renewal deadline and which will be unable to go to work the next day if they do not complete this training. As such, all our products are self-directed and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All our courseware is distributed via the Internet securely on our website, and user data is stored on our host servers. And we use best practices in web design which allow our courses to be accessed using devices that are typically used in offices (Windows PCs) as well as devices typically used at home (Macintosh laptops and desktops, iPads, and iPhones). In general, we fully accommodate all web browsers currently supported by Microsoft, Apple, and Google on desktop/phones; paper printouts; screen readers (JAWS 5.10 and later); and other text-to-speech software.
Following is our current roster of courses, along with courses from the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, which are relevant to nurses, nurse assistants and community health representatives.
1. Table: Schedule of current modules
| Number | Course title | Contact hours |
|---|---|---|
| BLSR | Basic life support (recertification) | 8.0 |
| ACLSR | Advanced cardiovascular life support (recertification) | 8.0 |
| PALSR | Pediatric advanced life support (recertification) | 8.0 |
| ARRH | Arrhythmia interpretation | 8.0 |
| 12LEA | 12-lead electrocardiography | 8.0 |
| BBP | Bloodborne pathogens | 1.0 |
Our courses are developed with an evidence-based science approach. To do this, we start all course development with a literature study and review the applicable scientific sources before creating the course outline. Our courses include academic citation back to the original science. We develop our courses to this high standard in order to make them available for further accreditation or cross-selling in the future if needed.
Our course roster is updated continuously to add new activities that are topical, interesting, and varied.
Security
Our company uses secure servers to guarantee sensitive information is protected; or better, not collected in the first place. The general manager of the offeror, and the primary point of contact for this proposal, has experience working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in securing bank websites. We have identified that Medcom Trainex is collecting social security numbers from nurses and it is doing so in an insecure way. We suspect that this has been happening for the past seven years. We have documented this problem as part of the course sign-up process. Not only is this information unnecessary to provide online training, but it makes students’ social security numbers vulnerable to theft by third parties.
Our servers are deployed in the United States and distributed geographically as per best practices in availability.
Course exam, assessment, and accreditation
Each course provides learning materials as well as evaluation. The student can pass through the learning and may go straight to the exam if desired (“test out”). Alternatively, students may access learning materials without taking the exam, or “evaluate” the course. The exam is multiple choice format and students are able to print the exam for reference. When the exam is complete, students receive a list of correct and incorrect answers (“remediation”). Students are able to repeat the exam to improve their score and correct incorrect answers. The illustration of exam scoring is shown below.
After the exam, the student will complete the course assessment. This process is a standard American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) evaluation and collects the required information to remain ANCC compliant and issue credit.
Once the student has completed the course, successfully passed the evaluation and submitted the evaluation, that student will be eligible for credit. ANCC credit will be provided directly and immediately on the website, and can be printed online. A demonstration of such credit is shown below. User registration automatically collects license numbers for RNs and other state-required registration information.
Educational accreditations
Our partner, Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is accredited with distinction through American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which also meets Florida’s accreditation requirement (per https://www.pimed.com/AboutUs/CME_CE_Accreditation.aspx), and also separately accredited with the California Board of Registered Nursing (Provider 13485). Documentation of this accreditation is provided in the appendix. A letter of support for this project, provided by the president of Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, is included in the appendix.
Learning administration (for corporate accounts)
Our learning management system (LMS) provides access to create and update student accounts as well as add (“assign”) and delete courses to an individual or group of students. We are able to accept a list of students and load students into the system in bulk, via Excel file, as well as allow individual registrations online 24/7.
Our LMS also provides reporting of who passed which course and when. Our LMS server has user authentication. We will provide corporate accounts with reports in aggregate, segregated by area, tribe, or any other designation, on a weekly basis. Also, we are able to handle course deadlines with exception reporting for overdue assignments. We will send email reminders to overdue students, if permitted by our customers.
The Aviation Industry Computer Based Training Committee (AICC) had published guidelines for LMS systems to follow. This organization has been dissolved as of December 2014, however, we will strive to met the intent of AICC compliance.
Postgraduate institute for medicine
The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) has been providing trusted independent continuing education for healthcare professionals for over thirty (30) years and is a recognized leader for jointly provided continuing education activities. The purpose of the PIM continuing medical education (CME) program is to deliver effective CME activities that are designed to contribute to the professional development of physicians, as well as other healthcare professionals, support their lifelong learning process, and positively impact the delivery of medical care. We fulfill this mission by forming successful alliances and working in collaboration to deliver impactful educational experiences that are designed to improve patient care practices.
PIM has been awarded accreditation with commendation by the ACCME and has also achieved accreditation with distinction by the ANCC, which places PIM among a very select number of accredited organizations that have been recognized for the highest level of organizational excellence by these prestigious accreditors. That means PIM doesn’t just provide exceptional service; we’ve demonstrated the highest levels of quality and excellence in assuring that your continuing education supports improved healthcare outcomes.
Our team of leading medical educators has a proven track record of leveraging their expertise and strategic healthcare provider alliances to help our partners grow their organizations and maximize the impact of their educational programming. PIM is comprised of a staff of dedicated professionals that represent a unique blend of educational, clinical, and statistical talent.
Eight of these individuals are certified healthcare professionals, and five PIM staff members hold clinical degrees, including one MD, two PharmDs, one adult nurse practitioner, and one master prepared registered nurse. The PIM team is rounded out by a biostatistician that holds a master’s degree in public health and is a PhD candidate in health statistics.
PIM subjects activity planning to rigorous quality standards through clinical content review aimed at assuring the content or format of the activity and related materials is balanced, scientifically objective, evidence-based, and promotes improvements or quality in healthcare.
PIM has extensive experience certifying continuing education initiatives for healthcare professionals in joint providership with a wide variety of organizations, such as medical education companies, academic medical centers, hospitals, associations and professional societies. A few current or recent organizations for which PIM has provided CME/CE certification services include the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the Alzheimer’s Association, Clinical Care Options, Drug Information Association, the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the National Hemophilia Foundation, the National Lipid Association, and the Renal Physician’s Association.
PIM also has a strong history of jointly providing federally and state funded CME/CE initiatives with AHRQ, NIDA, and multiple department of defense agencies, such as the Center Alliance for Dietary Supplement Research Department of Military and Emergency Medicine Uniformed Services, the Military Health System, and the Navy and Marine Corps.