Empathizing with the Complexities
Many types of VADs are used “off-label” in pediatric settings; this means that the industry is not required to produce pediatric-specific education. Appropriately designed modules would greatly reduce the educational burdens at institutions across the country. Through a series of interviews with various stakeholders it became obvious that the amount of information everyone needed to learn was quite burdensome on everyone, especially when it came to how quickly the information needed to be processed. Patients and families are given large binders full of information and only one staff member per hospital is properly trained in education. Clinicians had similar issues. Since VADs aren't widely used in children's hospitals, they would go months or years in between seeing any one particular device. When a patient would come in for implantation, clinicians would have to quickly relearn all of the information as they were also trying to educate the patient and family.
From there, and after receiving hands-on training myself, the team and I determined the best format for education delivery would be digital. Using e-learning modules would allow clinicians to be tested on their knowledge and integrated videos would administer complex info in condensed bits.
Above is a visualization of various care teams and when they are involved along the VAD journey.
Building a Visual Narrative
In order to keep kids engaged, a style had to be developed that appealed to their sense of wonder and imagination. A stylized character set was developed and colors were based on the brand guidelines set up by the ACTION Learning Network. This style was then applied to the rest of the assets. To the left is an early draft of a storyboard created for one of the educational modules.
Also during this time, Adobe Captivate was identified as the best platform to use to build out these educational modules. Captivate creates a file type that is SCORM compliant. To be SCORM compliant means that a file can be uploaded to any Learning Management System (LMS), which is a website type that tracks user progress and adherence. SCORM compliant files give users the ability to learn through interaction with things such as clickable buttons, text fields and quizzes. All of these were vital to integrate into the educational modules developed for the VAD team.
VAD Education For All
Over the course of two semesters, 22 learning modules were developed. The first four walk stakeholders through the journey of a VAD patient—starting with diagnosis and going through post-implantation. The rest are known as "The ABC's of VAD." Each letter represents a different aspect of living with a VAD, such as "K: Keeping You Safe," "L: Learning Alarms" and "M: Medication." Following the success of the e-learning modules, the VAD team asked for a video I had previously made for Cincinnati Children's Hospital on Patient Reported Outcomes to be modified to fit the brand guidelines and style of the ACTION Learning Network.
