With this in mind staff training on clinical and technical topics is something that can make a real difference to a practice.
So how can you go about running a staff training session?
'The first thing to consider is who the training is for and what it aims to achieve,' says Sarah Morgan, optometrist and staff development consultant. 'Professional staff will have good clinical knowledge and be doing CET anyway, so it is support staff who can really benefit from training on clinical and technical areas.'
Morgan says while it is a misconception that any training will inherently make staff better, when properly planned and executed it can make a huge difference.
'I've had someone working in a support role tell me that until she did some training with me she was thinking of quitting because she felt she wasn't good at her job. It is all about empowering staff to succeed.'
Morgan advises the best way to go about training is to do everything from the patient's point of view with the ultimate aim of achieving a knowledgeable and consistent service to patients.
'People become very familiar with their working environment and the processes that go on there. There is little thought about what it is like to be a patient. In order to identify areas that need training it can be good to send staff to a different practice in the area, although not a rival practice in the same town, to have an eye examination. This makes them experience the process as a patient and they should come back with ideas for improvement that can be addressed in training.'
Knowledge in reserve
Morgan says training for support staff should aim to provide a wider understanding of clinical topics than strictly needed to answer questions from patients. 'If they have a bit of wider knowledge in reserve it can help a lot with confidence because it acts as a safety buffer.'
Nick Atkins, contact lens optician and director at Positive Impact, feels that in-practice training can be very useful. 'I've been involved in training for a long time and in the past the focus has been to send staff out on a course,' he says. 'With Positive Impact we focus on providing training within the practice environment and this has been very effective. In practice people are more in tune with how the training translates to real working situations.'
Atkins says that in-house training can easily be inclusive of the whole team and promotes team spirit between professionals and support staff while also allowing the support staff to gain a better understanding of clinical and technical issues. 'Inclusive training gets everyone at the practice singing off the same hymn sheet and a good trainer will aim to pull the message out of the team rather than tell them outright.'
In terms of timing, Atkins says the best motivated staff may be prepared to give up evenings, but it is important to be aware that some people are unable to do this due to issues such as child care. 'One option is to close the practice for an extended lunchtime and this demonstrates commitment to the training on the part of the practice owners.'
Contact lens optician Ros Mussa has been involved in training for a number of years, having run and designed training courses for pre-reg dispensing opticians. Today she works in practice for a large multiple, as a faculty member at Johnson & Johnson's Vision Care Institute and also has a teaching role at City University.
Three ways to learn
Mussa makes the point that people learn in three key ways and any effective training should look to incorporate all three.
'Some people learn best by listening, some respond best to visual methods and some by doing practical work,' she says. 'The aim is to hit all three methods. For example in practice I recently conducted some training on UV, so I discussed the subject verbally while also displaying large images illustrating the same things I was talking about. Immediately after that I did practical UV work with the group. By doing this you should hit everyone's optimum learning ability.'
Beyond that Mussa emphasises that repetition works, so she would always aim to reinforce training over and over again. In her own teaching, Mussa will plan to go over a particular message at least three or four times in a 12-week period and says aspiring staff trainers should aim to reinforce training at least every 5-6 weeks.
Given that tackling clinical topics can be daunting for support staff, Mussa says it is important to keep things simple.
'Think how you would speak to your patients but with some added depth. Don't complicate things or use acronyms. Explain it in a very basic manner and then have them explain it back to you. Make it clear they can ask for further clarification as many times as is needed and realise that a failure to understand on their part is because you haven't explained it well - perhaps you haven't hit the method they learn best with.'
Another point of significance is that training should involve the staff in conversation rather than a one-sided monologue. 'You've got to make sure it doesn't go on too long and become boring. The aim is to have the audience engaged and participating.' ?