For the third in our Partner Perspectives series, we sat down with Relias — a National Council Platinum Partner — to learn more about their work, the future of the field and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Relias helps 11,000 health care organizations and 4.5 million caregivers improve clinical and financial outcomes by reducing variation in care. We help health care organizations, their people and those in their care, get better — better at identifying and addressing problems with better knowledge and skills to ensure better outcomes for all.
What’s one thing in the mental health and substance use field that you think deserves more attention?
At Relias, we believe that suicide prevention and intervention is one area in the behavioral health field that needs greater attention. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, death by suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 10-34 years and the 12th overall leading cause of death in the U.S.
While we continue to make strides in this area through things like implementation of 988, the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, we must continue to break down the stigma around asking for help and surrounding mental health in general. We must continue to have open and candid conversations, provide support, connect individuals to resources and share stories of recovery and hope.
What’s a bold, 10-year prediction about the space that Relias works in?
In 10 years, e-learning companies will provide approximately 50% of their training through immersive experiences that will not require special equipment. This immersive technology will provide digital simulations of lifelike scenarios for training purposes. This training will support staff in making better decisions, specifically in situations that are high-risk and require immediate response.
These training scenarios will lead to more competent and confident staff and improve clinical outcomes and reduce risk. Staff will enter this active learning environment and experience sights and sounds that bridge actual and virtual reality and will not require special headsets or controllers but can be experienced through an application on a computer and/or a mobile device.
As we come out of the shadows of this global pandemic, there will be a lot of discussion about what mental health and substance use service will look like — how it will be delivered, paid for, equitable access and of course, need. What has the pandemic taught Relias about your work?
The pandemic has underscored the importance of the work we do at Relias to support health care workers and organizations in providing the best care possible. We must provide the right education at the right time to the right person in the right setting. Sometimes individuals need to access to just-in-time training in the moment on a mobile device while responding to a crisis. Other times, they need to have time to participate in an hour-long continuing education training session for license renewal. We support lifelong learning where staff feel confident and competent about the work they do and the services they provide.
Is there a story about working with a National Council member in the past year that makes you proud?
We worked with the Relias administrator at KenCrest to address their goals to improve compliance and employee engagement by having conversations about strategy and best practices. During one of our quarterly check-ins, our admin was elated to share what he had developed from our discussions. He took the best practices and resources we had shared with him and created his own Relias-centered “Try It Thursdays.” He now sends out a newsletter once a month and created his own program “Relias for Leaders” as a training plan in the Relias Platform to increase learner’s engagement! We love success stories like this one and being able to help our clients develop and improve their learning culture.
What is one thing that most people would find surprising about the work that Relias does?
Most people would be surprised to learn that Relias employs hundreds of staff that have experience working in the health care industry. These individuals can be found in various departments throughout the business. However, we are most proud of the more than 50 full-time employees working in our product management and content development departments who have walked in the shoes of our learners as nurses, social workers, therapists, direct care workers, psychologists, etc. These individuals develop the educational and training resources and build the technology that delivers these resources to the organizations and learners we support. We are thankful for the work they do every day.
What do you love most about your work?
At Relias, we love supporting the professional development and continuing education needs for healthcare workers across the continuum of care. We love being able to use our clinical experience, healthcare knowledge, and leadership skills to impact the work of others. And we love solving educational and training problems for organizations.
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