Case Study

St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center

David Blackwell, Applications Specialist, and Brett Calico, Software Engineer, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho were handed the task of selecting and implementing a solution to scale up training at St. Alphonsus while keeping costs down.

Insufficient System

St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center is the largest and one of the fastest growing hospitals in the Boise area. As such, they had ever-increasing training needs that were quickly out-pacing their available resources. They had over 3,000 employees who needed training on a variety of technical and non-technical courses. They had only one instructor on staff, who only taught courses on Microsoft Office applications. To further complicate matters, classes were only offered during the day in a classroom that only seated 12 students. If a student needed a course in something other than Microsoft Office, such as MCSE Certification or management skills training, they would have to go off site to receive the training at a significant cost to the organization.

Seeking a Scalable Solution

David and Brett spent several months researching different e-learning solutions such as network-based, internet-based, and lending libraries. They knew that whatever system they chose needed to be easy to track, require no desktop installations, and be scalable to meet their growing workforce. They evaluated different training products and decided on the Makau Learning Appliance (MLA) to deploy their training solution.

Implementing e-Learning

Brett referred to the installation of the MLA in mid-2004 as “flawless.” Since installing the system, St. Alphonsus has received several course updates and one significant update to the Learning Management System (LMS), which all went through without incident. The Makau staff was “a pleasure to work with.”

Implementing e-Learning

According to David, the Makau Learning Appliance has “totally revolutionized” training at St. Alphonsus. Now employees can access online training from work or from home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An employee can choose from over 300 course modules on technical and non-technical topics to help him or her with current tasks or to help improve his or her career.

Even with all the expansions they’ve made in training opportunities, Brett was happy to report that they actually saw a reduction in training costs. With all the varied shifts and work schedules, allowing employees to train online at their own pace has been a huge advantage. From a reporting perspective, the Makau LMS has helped them accurately determine how many employees are enrolled and participating in the training. They are seeing more training going on than they were able to facilitate under their old methods. It’s no longer a burden on managers to weigh the cost of sending an employee to be trained. They simply point them toward the training they need and enjoy the benefits of a more highly-skilled staff.

In short, David reports that “response to the Makau Learning Appliance has been very positive at St. Alphonsus.”