Virtual Training Guidance

I was asked recently by a few connections if I could give some guidance / pointers regarding Virtual Training.

At this unprecedented time, it is important that the healthcare training community does all it can to assist each other. Even with the recommended government safety measures in place many individuals and businesses are still understandably reluctant to engage in face-to-face training.

Having been in a position where 90% of my training and support work had been done virtually for the last five years, I did share my thoughts early in the pandemic with training & healthcare organisations. I explained that there were basically two routes where trainers could adapt to run courses virtually. The first is adapting training materials so that the trainer acts more in a mentoring & facilitation role. The other is to use the materials you already have and run sessions live online.

My preferred adaptation, which I champion with the Healthcare Training Network, is the mentoring and facilitation approach. In November 2020 I went about organising a full Virtual Library of Healthcare Training Resources. To support this, I also decided that I would write this short guide to assist those trainers who may benefit from supplying virtual training, either inhouse or in a freelance / training company capacity.

I am incredibly grateful for the valuable input and advice given by one of the HTN Associates, Paul Corrall who runs learning & development group courses remotely, in preparing this short guide.

For those of you who are already providing virtual training there may be little the guidance can teach you, but for those taking their first steps or struggling I hope this guidance and a couple of templates will assist. If you need further help, please ask.

David Inglis (Trainer Dave)