Lacey Jensen, RN, director of informatics education at Stanford Healthcare
Photo: Lacey Jensen, RN
Longer length of initial electronic health record training is strongly correlated with EHR satisfaction, KLAS research has shown. But 80% of newly-hired healthcare personnel are already experienced with EHRs, and more training may not always translate into better experience
Stanford Healthcare had a goal to create a self-paced, learner-centered program to reduce training time, speed up clinical readiness and improve retention for learners. A blended learning approach was implemented, combining instructor-led sessions and self-paced modules, using computer adaptive learning to personalize the experience.
Streamlining onboarding
Lacey Jensen, RN, director of informatics education at Stanford Healthcare, will offer an in-depth look at this program at the 2026 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exposition in March during a session titled "Streamlining EHR Onboarding: Enhancing Efficiency and Retention Through Adaptive Learning." She will be co-presenting with Stanford Healthcare CMIO Dr. Christopher Sharp.
"The focus of our presentation is to share how we used the blended learning approach with computer adaptive learning to enhance efficiency and increase knowledge retention in EHR onboarding training," Jensen explained. "Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, we wanted to honor the learner's baseline knowledge by creating a self-paced, learner centered onboarding program.
"We recognized there was an opportunity to decrease class time and get the clinician to the bedside faster," she continued. "Our current curriculum design required lengthy online and classroom-based learning, had sub-optimal competency assessment techniques, and lacked data to measure mastery of the course content. Educators did not have a consistent method to identify who was struggling or needed additional support after class."
Healthcare organizations interested in faster onboarding while increasing efficacy will be interested in this presentation, she added. Stanford Healthcare was able to decrease training time by an average of 50% while increasing learning retention.
Saved 8,000 hours of training time
"Results were seen across roles and service areas – for example, physicians, nurses, inpatient and ambulatory," Jensen noted. "In one year, we saved over 8,000 hours of learner training time, getting clinicians to the bedside faster and freeing up our education team to focus on informatics competency beyond the basics.
"Six onboarding courses were chosen for the pilot, including five provider courses and one nursing course," she continued. "We used a blended learning approach – synchronous and asynchronous learning – and computer adaptive learning to create a curriculum capable of adapting to the learner's prior knowledge of the electronic health record."
The computer adaptive learning tests the learner's comprehension, and the learner cannot complete the eLearning without demonstrating mastery. Post-eLearning completion analytics captures topic areas of struggle, which allows educators to follow-up with personalized education.
A blended learning approach was implemented, combining instructor-led sessions and self-paced modules, using computer adaptive learning technology from vendor Amplifire to personalize the experience.
Changing platforms and methodologies
"The project focused on changing platforms and methodologies, leveraging existing training content," Jensen explained. "This allowed for a faster, more agile implementation.
To assess whether there was an increase in knowledge retention, learner exams were given to two cohorts of students: pre-course changes curriculum and post-course changes curriculum. Exam questions were the same for both cohorts and covered all course topics."
The optimized onboarding process reduced training time significantly – provider eLearning time decreased by one hour, and classroom time was cut from 4-16 hours to 2 hours. The RN course shifted from four hours of classroom time to two hours of self-paced learning. Training retention assessments showed statistically significant improvements for RNs and a positive trend for providers.
Jensen's session, "Streamlining EHR Onboarding: Enhancing Efficiency and Retention Through Adaptive Learning," is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in San Polo 3504 Level 3, at HIMSS26 in Las Vegas.
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Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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