Ready, Set, Train: Leveling Up Annual Training In Post-Acute Care

If you’re in post-acute care, you’ve likely experienced the challenges of participating in or even managing an annual training program. Whether it’s in-person sessions that demand hours away from client or patient care, or an LMS system that requires endless hours of administrative time to manage, the struggle to balance compliance with efficiency is all too real. And it can make training feel like more of a checkbox to tick off rather than a tool for real impact and growth.

Annual training can be so much more. With the right strategies, you can transform your program into an engaging, streamlined experience that truly supports your team and elevates client or resident care. Let’s dive into some practical ways to level up your annual training approach—making it more impactful, efficient, and rewarding for everyone involved.

1. Personalize Learning Paths: The Right Info for the Right People

Care is not one-size-fits-all–and annual training shouldn’t be either. Personalizing learning paths ensures that each team member gets the most relevant information based on their role, experience, and those they serve. 

How to do it:

• Assess Skill Gaps: Use assessments to understand where specific individuals, teams, or departments may need additional learning and offer sessions or modules based on those findings. 
• Leverage Role & Setting-Based Training: If you’re using an LMS or e-learning platform, there’s a good chance the content is tailored to healthcare, but not necessarily post-acute care or, your specific segment within post-acute care. Content should address the needs and practical skills necessary for your specific service lines. It should also use language and terminology that aligns with industry standards, making it more reliable and relevant to your employees. 
• Offer More: Providing training and career advancement opportunities is shown to increase employee satisfaction and retention. Offering elective courses, such as advanced wound care, dementia care, or leadership training can keep employees from feeling stagnant in their careers, while also improving quality of care. 

2. Make It Interactive: Engage to Educate

When learners are actively participating, they’re not only likely to retain more information but also find greater value and connection in the training itself. Here are some simple ways to make annual training more interactive and engaging. 

How to do it:

• Use Scenario-Based Training: Crafting realistic, detailed personas for scenario-based training—like Tony, an 87-year-old man with limited mobility who lives alone in a two-story home—makes learning more engaging and relevant. Recognizable personas help employees mentally and emotionally connect with each scenario, encouraging them to think critically about unique care needs and risks they’ll encounter on the job. This approach builds empathy, strengthens problem-solving skills, and makes training memorable, preparing employees to respond confidently in real-life situations.
• Incorporate Quizzes: Include quizzes at the end of each session or module to ensure knowledge is being retained. These knowledge checks can also help employees focus on where they may need more training or clarification. 
• Make It Learner-Centric: To maximize retention, courses must be designed in a way that ensures learners at all levels–from frontline workers to seasoned clinicians–can easily understand and apply the material. This may include staggering in-person training sessions so employees can better absorb each topic. Or using LMS content that focuses on the practical skills needed to drive behavior change. 

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Recommended Reading:  7 Practical Tips For Engaging Reluctant Learners READ MORE

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4. Make It Self-Paced: Anytime, Anywhere Access

From the way you deliver your staff schedules to how you document care–everything is moving online. And today’s workforce expects that at least a portion, if not all, of their training should be delivered online. Offering this self-paced experience can help boost knowledge retention. And by making it more accessible, increases the likelihood that participants will complete training on time. Moving training online helped one provider see completion rates of 96%, with employees completing training within 7.6 days of enrollment. 

How to do it:

• Choose a Mobile-Optimized Platform: Look for an LMS or e-learning platform that works seamlessly on mobile devices. Bonus points if it doesn’t require users to download an app and instead can be completed on any desktop or mobile browser. 
• Promote the Benefits of Mobile Access: Promote the “anytime, anywhere” benefit to employees so they can choose when to learn. This benefit is particularly appealing to millennials and the growing Gen Z workforce. 
• Ensure Support is Available: For the best online training experience, look for a provider that offers end-user support. In other words, a vendor that will work directly with your employees to ensure things like lost passwords or technical issues don’t get in the way of completing training. This is one of the many benefits of working with a managed service provider like Showd.me which includes end-user support, unlike other alternatives.  

5. Create a Culture of Continuous Learning

Annual training may be a requirement, but to maximize the benefit of your program, it has to be presented as more than just a “check the box” and instead as a core component of care. And the culture you create around learning plays a major role in your ability to make training feel more like an integrated part of your employee’s day-to-day, becoming less of a “have to” and more of a “want to.”

How to do it:

• Foster Psychological Safety: Create an environment where employees feel comfortable asking questions, admitting knowledge gaps, and sharing their learning experiences without fear of judgment. When team members know they can openly discuss challenges or areas for improvement, they’re more likely to embrace learning opportunities. Psychological safety builds trust, encourages honest communication, and makes continuous learning a natural part of the culture.
• Celebrate Learning Efforts: Acknowledge employees who meet training deadlines or are the first to finish annual training. Rewards and recognition programs, or even a simple shout-out during team meetings help reinforce the value of learning and encourage others to participate. When employees see that continuous learning is noticed and valued, it strengthens the culture around growth.
• Provide Just-in-Time Training: Provide training that is relevant to what’s happening at the moment. For instance, training that focuses on dealing with aggressive clients or residents could be delivered immediately after an incident. This real-time relevance boosts engagement and provides skills that are immediately applicable.
• Offer Continuing Education (CE) Perks: While the onus of fulfilling continuing education requirements is on employees, offering access to online CE-accredited courses is a great perk that showcases your commitment to ongoing education while also supporting licensed professionals in meeting requirements. 

7. Gather Feedback and Adapt

Feedback is your secret weapon! Employee feedback on training content, style, and format can provide powerful insights for future improvements. After all, who knows what’s working (or what’s not) better than your team?

How to do it:

• Create Easy Feedback Channels: Use post-training surveys or in-module feedback forms. Showd.me asks trainees for feedback at the end of every course to ensure our content resonates with employees. 
• Hold Focus Groups: Bring together a few team members post-training to hear their insights and suggestions. This can be especially useful if your annual training program hasn’t seen any major updates in a while. Get a sense of what they like, don’t like, as well as any barrier that may lead to them putting off annual training. 
• Adapt Based on Insights: Asking for feedback is just step one. Look for trends in what you’re hearing and work to implement changes that will resonate with employees. Doing so will ensure you continue to receive actional feedback in the future. 

The strategies above are just the beginning of a more dynamic, engaging, and effective annual training program. 

But why stop there? Consider adding sessions focused on managing stress and preventing burnout—key components that directly impact employee well-being and resilience. Or training that addresses soft skills such as communication, empathy, and cultural sensitivities to empower employees to navigate the challenges of post-acute care with confidence and compassion. 

All these elements combined help build a culture where learning is constant, employees feel supported, and everyone is equipped to provide outstanding care.