Online Best Practice Programs Help Healthcare Providers Overcome Travel Restrictions

With business travel budgets expected to remain tight through 2010, online clinical best practice programs may offer the healthcare industry its best educational value, according to Sara McMannus, Program Manager of GE Healthcare’s Global Clinical Best Practice Education. “Vendor-neutral, online programs provide education on-demand at a fraction of the cost of travel-based programs,” she said.

Medical professionals and clinical experts traditionally rely on industry conferences and hands-on training programs to advance their skills. Unfortunately, corporate measures restricting travel threaten their ability to pursue educational objectives.

“Online education programs enable healthcare personnel to pursue personal skills development while avoiding conflicts with corporate restrictions and other cost-saving initiatives,” said McMannus, who manages GE Healthcare’s online programs, including those for Sepsis Management, Electronic Fetal Monitoring and Preventing Hospital Acquired Complications.

McMannus explained most people don’t realize that web-based programs provide a high-quality learning experience. “Online programs engage clinicians in real-life situations, such as by using virtual reality with interactive patient rooms,” she stated. “Some programs, like GE Healthcare’s, also award continuing education unit [CEU] credits upon program completion. Most importantly, web-based learning provides hospitals with an opportunity to improve service delivery at the point of care that might have otherwise been lost.”

To learn more about GE Healthcare’s online educational programs, visit: www.gehealthcare.com/clinicaled.

ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE:

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com