When a growing hospital system needed to cross-train radiography staff into CT to meet demand, generic instruction alone couldn't close the curriculum gap. By anchoring coursework in Clover Learning's video lessons, quizzes, and mock exams, AdventHealth West Florida gave its staff a resource they trusted enough to seek out themselves — and helped them pass their CT registry exam on the first try.
The Institution
AdventHealth operates a large network of care providers across 9 states. The West Florida division includes 14 hospitals, 8 freestanding emergency departments, 10 urgent care centers, a long-term care facility, and over 30 specialty physician group practices. Although the West Florida division may be large with over 18,000 team members, their focus is on providing whole-person care for each individual patient. Diagnostic imaging services play a critical role in developing a care plan for many patients, and AdventHealth is investing in upskilling its team members to meet this growing demand.
“I tell my students that you only want to take the [registry] exam once, so if you find a resource that works for you, use it! And they went straight for Clover Learning.” - Tiffany Kennell, M.Ed., R.T.(R)(CT)(MR)(ARRT), Imaging Clinical Educator, AdventHealth, West Florida Division
The Challenge
Build a comprehensive curriculum for a new cross-training program
In response to growing demand for high quality emergency care, AdventHealth has opened more than 20 new, freestanding Emergency Departments throughout Florida. However, finding enough trained diagnostic imaging specialists to staff these new centers has proven challenging. To address this, Mistie Palmer, AdventHealth’s Workforce Development Director, initiated an intensive cross-training program to develop some of West Florida’s existing radiography staff and qualified external candidates into CT, and brought on its first Imaging Clinical Educator, Tiffany Kennell, M.Ed., R.T.(R)(CT)(MR)(ARRT),CIIP, to design and deliver the curriculum.
A seasoned diagnostic imaging professional with over 20 years of experience in X-ray, CT and MRI, Kennell was excited to provide this opportunity for AdventHealth staff. “I liked helping people, precepting and mentoring my coworkers,” says Kennell. She built out the 12-week intensive curriculum in which technologists focused full-time on their training for the ARRT CT exam. Although this meant temporarily removing these professionals from their regular duties, AdventHealth believed in the program’s vision and supported the new training model.
With her first two cohorts, Kennell used a curriculum that had been selected prior to her hiring. “We tried a learning management system that was fairly new,” Kennell recalled, “but it was incomplete and I ended up having to supplement a lot.” Her students also picked up on these deficiencies and found their own solution: Clover Learning.
“I tell my students that you only want to take the [registry] exam once,” says Kennell, “so if you find a resource that works for you, use it! And they went straight for Clover Learning.”
The Solution
Anchor the curriculum with Clover Learning
Many of Kennell’s students were familiar with Clover Learning from their radiography programs and recommended it highly. Kennell was excited to find a comprehensive curricular resource for her program that would also save her students from having to pay out of pocket for supplementary materials.
For her next cohort, she designed the 12-week sequence around Clover Learning. Kennell’s playbook matched her weekly sessions with the relevant video lessons on Clover Learning, creating a checklist for students to complete. “The Clover Learning video lessons are really in depth, I almost don’t have to explain anything! They’re wonderful and well received by participants” says Kennell.
In addition to having students complete the post-lesson quizzes, Kennell also used Clover Learning’s Prep application to create custom assignments that helped her students check their understanding of each category. As their exam date approached, participants also took two of Clover Learning’s mock CT registry exams. Kennell included their first score in a stakeholder report for their leaders to ensure exam readiness and show how prepared participants were to sit for their exam.
The Result
High student and instructor satisfaction
Kennell’s first cohort participant to use only Clover Learning successfully passed her CT exam! And just like her last two cohorts, students cited Clover Learning as their most effective learning resource.
And now Kennell is helping her colleagues make their cross-training programs as effective as possible for AdventHealth staff. Starting this summer, the new MRI cohort will have access to Clover Learning’s comprehensive MRI curriculum to guide their cross-training.
Meanwhile, Kennell will be spending her summer visiting each of the 14 hospitals in the West Florida Division to raise awareness about cross-training opportunities with AdventHealth. And while she’s there, she plans to make sure radiography students conducting their clinical work with AdventHealth are aware of Clover Learning before they take their radiography exams, too!
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