Direct Healthcare Group trains over 12,000 clinicians as it extends digital learning platform
Direct Healthcare Group has helped train over 12,000 healthcare professionals since the launch of its Ethos digital learning platform to support district nurses and community care workers who struggled to find easy access to courses.
The clinical education service was developed to complement existing nurse training and launched in January 2020.
To date, the free service has helped train over 12,436 clinical professionals, which according to the firm, attests to its quality and the necessity of the platform.
Encountering huge demand for online training needs during the Covid-19 pandemic, Direct Healthcare Group (DHG) revealed a surge of participants seeking guidance in Bed Management and Moving and Enabling courses, as capacity demands changed patient requirements and home care became the precedent.
An exclusive six-part series presented by Jacqui Fletcher, OBE, also drew significant numbers, educating professionals on the fundamentals of pressure area care, safe moving and handling and appropriate risk assessment processes.
Further partnerships with some of the world’s leading clinical leaders in healthcare have also proved popular, including Professor Keith Harding and Professor Amit Gefen.
As part of UK revalidation requirements, healthcare professionals must undertake at least 35 hours of continuing professional development (relevant to their scope of practice) over a three year period prior to their revalidation date.
As such, digital training courses, such as those provided through Ethos, saw a surge of interest over the past 18 months as professionals sought easier, simpler, online ways of learning, without costly or delayed face to face courses.
Graham Ewart, CEO at DHG, commented, “The Ethos platform has opened up learning for clinicians throughout the pandemic, and we fully expect online courses like ours to continue as professionals seek hybrid, virtual healthcare training which fits flexibly around their work schedules and lifestyles.”
“Over the past 18 months, our courses have proved essential to nurses. At the height of the pandemic, patients were swiftly moved out of acute care environments and into homes to ease capacity pressures, but with this came differing healthcare needs, as patients still required high levels of care, including frequent repositioning and pressure ulcer prevention.”
“These activities are a standard part of daily care in hospital environments, but significantly challenging in the home, particularly where face-to-face contact is reduced. Our training helped clinicians feel confident and prepared in the face of difficult and challenging circumstances.”
“Not only does Ethos ensure clinicians maintain best practice and understanding of varying needs and new medical device technology, but it is a great source of information sharing and many see it as a highly important source of networking in this regard.”
Following its success in the UK, DHG have now extended the service to international markets, including the Netherlands and the Nordic region, where over 900 professionals have, to date, received training.
In addition to international expansion to further European markets, the next 12 months will see DHG invest a further £15,000 into the digitalisation of the training platform to extend its capabilities, transforming it into a full Learning Management System, and allowing clinicians the flexibility to revisit all webinars, plus structured training in their own time.
In addition, the healthcare company will seek to provide expertise beyond just clinical education with free-to-access CPD-accredited modules and RIBA-approved webinars for Architects in the context of the selection and installation of ceiling track hoists within acute, long-term care and homecare environments.
Ewart continued, “Best in class training is the absolute core of our health service in the UK and globally. Our specialism – the development and prevention of pressure ulcers – presents the greatest risk and a significant cost burden to the healthcare sector, and where we can develop products, and offer training, to prevent this, we will.”
Direct Healthcare Group is a pan-European medical devices manufacturer specialising in pressure care management, moving and handling equipment, specialist seating and bathroom safety solutions in hospitals, acute care environments, residential care homes and private homes.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Caerphilly, Wales, DHG employs over 600 people and has a direct presence in five European countries, with its products distributed in a further 35 international markets. DHG recently won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2021.
