Train without pain: Doing what it takes to make your office staff tech-savvy

Tackling a new computer system need not be overwhelming if you develop a training strategy.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. July 12, 2004.

When you hire or promote employees, you must train them to use billing systems, electronic medical records and other software applications you use to run your practice. More than likely, you will have to train them yourself -- or find someone on your staff to handle the training.

Because every office customizes software and does business differently, it's best to train employees internally so they perform computer tasks exactly the way you want, according to physician offices that train in-house. The only time you should go outside for training is when buying a new billing or clinical system or using an application no one on staff has experience with, experts say.

Unless you can afford to routinely pay a vendor at least $1,000 a day plus expenses or $100 to $400 for employees to attend a class to learn Microsoft applications such as Word or Excel, it's more cost-effective and efficient to train employees internally.

Here are a half-dozen strategies you can use to train staff while minimizing disruption at the office.

Michael J. Tyler, practice administrator of a two-physician family practice in Rosenberg, Texas, doesn't hire people lacking basic keyboard and computer skills. When he interviews job applicants, he hands them a document and asks them to type, save and print the file using Microsoft Word. He also asks them, unless they're applying for a nursing position, to create an Excel spreadsheet.