The Role of Stakeholder-Centric Training in Achieving Successful Outcomes

This is the second part of a series that follows our first article, “Supporting a Successful New Medical Device Product Launch”.

As a medical device manufacturer, you know that launching a new product or device is not only a technical challenge but also a learning challenge. You need to ensure that your potential customers and users are well-informed and well-trained in using your product or device effectively and safely. But how do you design and deliver training that meets the needs and expectations of different user groups? Let’s explore the concept of stakeholder-centric training in detail and understand why it is essential for medical device manufacturers to adopt it.

Stakeholder-Centric Training Overview

Stakeholder-centric training is a tailored approach that caters to the distinct learning needs, preferences, and objectives of various stakeholder groups involved in the integration and utilization of a new medical device. These stakeholders encompass key individuals and organizations influencing the product’s success, including:

Each stakeholder group possesses distinct learning objectives that impact learning curricula-building strategies. For instance, physicians and surgeons seek insights into clinical benefits and outcomes, while sales and marketing staff focus on competitive advantages and unique selling points.

Some core principles that guide stakeholder-centric training, therefore, include:

Recognizing and accommodating the diverse requirements of each stakeholder group is therefore pivotal in developing a comprehensive and impactful training program for the successful adoption and utilization of the new medical device.

Why is Stakeholder-Centric Training important?

Stakeholder-centric training aims to create and deliver training content tailored to each stakeholder group’s specific learning needs, preferences, and goals. This approach to medical device training is important for several reasons:

• It increases customer satisfaction and loyalty: By providing training that is relevant and useful for each stakeholder group, you show that you understand their needs and expectations and that you value their feedback and input. This builds trust and rapport with your customers and increases their satisfaction and loyalty with your product or device.

• It enhances user adoption and retention: Training that is engaging and effective for each stakeholder group helps them overcome any barriers or challenges they may face in using your product or device. This increases their confidence and competence with your product or device and enhances their adoption and retention rates.

• It improves product performance and outcomes: By providing training aligned with each stakeholder group’s goals and objectives, you help them achieve their desired results with your product or device. This improves the performance and outcomes of your product or device, such as clinical efficacy, safety, quality, efficiency, and profitability.
  

By adopting a stakeholder-centric training approach, you can ensure that your product or device is not only technically sound, but also user-friendly, value-adding, and outcome-oriented. Stakeholder-centric training is not only important but also essential for the success of your product or device.

“Differentiated” Stakeholder-Centric Training Curriculum

Stakeholder-centric training curricula should vary according to the learners’ level of familiarity and competence with the product or device. New and inexperienced users need basic and essential training, while experienced users need advanced and comprehensive training. The training should also differ in terms of content, delivery, and assessment, to suit the learners’ needs, interests, and goals. Stakeholder-centric training curricula can help improve customer satisfaction, user adoption, and product outcomes.

By designing stakeholder-centric training curricula that cater to the different levels of familiarity and competence, you can ensure that your training is relevant, useful, engaging, and effective for each stakeholder group.

How to Develop a Stakeholder-Centric Training Curriculum?

To create a stakeholder-centric training curriculum, follow a five-step process:

1. Identify stakeholder groups and roles
2. Analyze learning needs
3. Design content with format and delivery considerations
4. Deliver content with timing and feedback in mind; and
5. Evaluate outcomes

This ensures a tailored approach for each group. It’s crucial to adapt continuously, considering evolving stakeholder needs, changing legislation, and advancements in medical and engineering sciences. A dynamic approach prevents training from becoming outdated, ensuring continued relevance and effectiveness over time.

Examples Of Stakeholder-Centric Training Curriculum

To illustrate how to develop and deliver a high-quality stakeholder-centric training curriculum, let us look at some examples of training content for different stakeholder groups for a hypothetical new medical device:

To create a stakeholder-centric training curriculum, follow a five-step process:

• Physicians and surgeons:

  Emphasize clinical benefits such as improved patient safety and faster recovery. The training, delivered through a video demonstration and live Q&A, is conducted online before the device launch, lasting about an hour per lesson. Maintain a professional tone with technical and medical terminology, targeting an intermediate audience.

• Nurses and primary health care staff:

  This stakeholder group should undergo training focusing on operational procedures and best practices. The content, delivered offline after the device launch, includes a text-based manual with illustrations and video tutorials, lasting around 15 minutes each. Aimed at beginners, it maintains a professional tone with clear language.

• Sales and marketing staff: Highlight competitive advantages, unique selling points, features, and benefits. Use a PowerPoint presentation with graphs and charts, followed by a role-play exercise. Deliver online before the device launch, with a 30-minute duration per module. Tailor the content to an intermediate level, assuming prior knowledge, and maintain a professional, business-friendly tone with persuasive and positive language.

• Support teams: Train this set of stakeholders by focusing on technical and user interface troubleshooting and diagnostics. The training, delivered online before the device launch, includes videos and simulated exercises, along with diagnostic scripts. The content, lasting around an hour per module, targets an intermediate audience with a professional tone, using inquiring and positive language.

• Engineering departments: Stress upon design principles, quality standards, conceptualization, development, testing, and validation. Use a white paper with equations, accompanied by a video interview. Delivery can be online or offline pre/post-launch. Adjust content duration and level based on depth and complexity, maintaining a professional, technical, or academic tone as per audience expectations.

• Patients and caregivers: Focus on the new devices’ features, functions, benefits, and risks. Use one-on-one consults, brochures with pictures and testimonials, and a “How to…” video. Delivery can be in-person, online, or offline based on availability pre/post-launch. Adjust content duration and level to suit information needs and familiarity with the device, maintaining a friendly or empathetic tone based on emotional needs.

• Regulators and policymakers: To empower regulators and policymakers in the medical product sector, a stakeholder-centric training curriculum is crucial. It should cover the benefits, risks, and challenges of the new medical product, along with best practices and standards for development, evaluation, and implementation. Curriculum topics encompass scientific principles, regulatory pathways, ethical and social implications, and economic considerations. This ensures a comprehensive understanding of the new medical product’s impact on public health, patient rights, and health equity.

A Lynchpin for Successful Medical Product Launches

Stakeholder-centric medical device training is a key factor for a successful product launch, as it addresses the diverse needs and expectations of various stakeholder groups, and enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Using a stakeholder-centric training approach also aids in user adoption and retention, and product performance and outcomes. More importantly, a focus on diverse stakeholders, when building a training curriculum, helps ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and standards for medical devices.