By: Dawn Sheldon, MSN, RN
We are at a pivotal point in healthcare training. Ways to deliver knowledge, teach skills, and learn are changing. To stay competitive, dialysis training programs must stay ahead of the changing needs of the students and employers. The most recent change to the playing field is the increased use of technology.
The shift is revolutionary, and Dialysis Education Services is at the head. They are leading the movement. They identified the need to implement new technology into their already successful Hemodialysis Training Program. By teaming up with the future-forward technology at Lifeliqe, Dialysis Education Services has created a dialysis training program modeled to impact the dialysis staffing shortage. Using virtual reality (VR) to complement their current curriculum, the quality of the education is unmatched, producing eyes-wide-open, competent Hemodialysis Technicians. Graduates of Dialysis Education Services are positioned to succeed at certification requirements, becoming outstanding Certified Hemodialysis Technicians and Certified Clinical Hemodialysis Technicians.
Who is Dialysis Education Services?
Dialysis Education Services is a vocational school located in California with course offerings nationwide. Led by Michael Morales, Chief Executive Officer, and his team of industry-leading educators, Dialysis Education Services is the authority in training and educating those working in dialysis.
“Dialysis Education Services is known to be one of the leaders in the industry,” Mark Andersen, Co-Founder, and President, Lifeliqe.
Dialysis Education Services offers many products, including its vocational training program for dialysis technicians. The program is offered nationwide. It includes didactic lessons, VR simulations, and clinical training. Clinical training takes place in working dialysis clinics. VR simulations are a new program component and are not currently found in any other vocational program.
Dialysis Education Services is a leader in dialysis training for hemodialysis technicians and nurses. Since 2009, Dialysis Education Services, with subject matter experts, has trained over 2000 dialysis staff. Their curriculum produces certification-prepared hemodialysis technicians and specialty trained nurses.
Innovative Authority
The process of training hemodialysis technicians in the field has not changed in decades. The delivery of education and skills has not progressed along with the way people learn. The system is stagnant. Educating and retaining staff continue to plague the dialysis industry.
“Michael is able to see connections that aren’t really obvious,” Todd Maddox, Ph.D., Chief Learning Scientist, IKONA.
Dialysis Education Services’ ambition to improve the training systems of hemodialysis technicians motivates their innovation. Recognizing the ways people learn have changed, the program has transformed to teach in those ways. One such example is the school-life balance. The training schedule and the flexibility of the clinical schedule allow for minimal disruption in a student’s life.
While collaborating with innovators in the field, Dialysis Education Services brings new processes and ideas to their hemodialysis technician training. Subject matter experts utilize these new techniques thereby increasing student knowledge, retention and confidence.
Transformative Program
The program provided by Dialysis Education Services stands out from all others. The program is BONENT-certified. It is the only school certified in California to train hemodialysis technicians and one of a few programs that offer online national training.
Dialysis Education Services’ vision to improve patient health, quality of health care, and quality of life through an interdisciplinary approach to the education of health care professionals moves them to create an evolutionary program.
Staying true to its mission, Dialysis Education Services continuously improves its program. The most recent improvement, or innovation, is the addition of VR to its curriculum.
“The program is cutting edge,” Tim Dillon, Sales Consultant, Lifeliqe.
Previously the training program offered by Dialysis Education Services consisted of didactic learning and clinical training. The VR component has been added to the program to supplement learning in these two forms.
With the addition of VR, Dialysis Education Services continues to produce highly trained, skilled, and retainable dialysis staff. This will impact staffing shortages currently suffered by many dialysis organizations. Dialysis Education Services is a revolutionary in the dialysis industry, not solely dialysis training and education.
Revolutionary Addition
There is a need for change in hemodialysis technician training programs. Dialysis Education Services understood this need and turned to the benefits of VR. They exceed industry standards being the first hemodialysis training program to move with the times and embrace the implementation of advancing technologies.
Complementing their training program with VR demonstrates how Dialysis Education Services seeks creative and new ways to teach hemodialysis technicians. This positively affects students and their outcomes. Students graduate from the program with a better understanding of the hemodialysis technician role in the dialysis clinic.
Students feel more prepared when they enter the clinic and work with actual patients. Removing the element of surprise and the fear of the unknown, retention rates improve.
“Michael understands the barriers that VR is well suited to address,” Tim Fitzpatrick, CEO, IKONA Health.
VR in Dialysis Education Services’ program will teach rudimentary processes such as washing hands and taking vital signs. VR is also a behavioral tool. By immersing students in clinic settings with avatars representing patients, students can experience what it is like performing dialysis on a patient. Students will understand how patients might feel and situations that can arise in a dialysis clinic.
Before starting clinical training, students will have unlimited opportunities to experience the virtual training. The VR trainings are 3-D simulations that the students can repeat as often as they like until they are comfortable. The opportunity of unlimited training gives students a richer learning experience and confidence.
“After the program, I am absolutely confident to take good care of kidney failure patients,” Phichamon (Paula) Phetko, RN.
Dialysis Education Services is turning the dialysis training world onto its head, disrupting the status quo. They have created a program that grows with its students. Dialysis Education Services considers the student and the employer. Focusing on how these two populations must come together, Dialysis Education Services can create an education program achieving the goals of both groups. A feat not accomplished by any other hemodialysis technician training program.
Dialysis Education Services is addressing the issues facing dialysis organizations: the need for improved training and staffing shortages. Producing graduates that can excel in the field, acquire certification, and retain their position is proof that Dialysis Education Services has found the formula for educating successful dialysis staff.