Elearning! Magazine

MAY-JUN 2011

Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.

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learning!100 American Heart Association: Collaboration at Its Finest health information to help them live healthier. "Then, we have a site aimed at our profes- It's not easy to be a knowledge portal for everybody in the world, but the American Heart Association is doing a wonderful job through its two main Websites, one for the public at large and one for cardiovas- cular professionals. Not surprisingly, the A.H.A. has been awarded a prominent place on the Learning! 100 list of the country's most progressive and efficient learning pro- grams in the category of "Excellence in Collaboration." Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Cardiovascular diseases claim more than 800,000 lives a year. The association teams with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and pro- vide life-saving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. In fiscal year 2009-10, the association invested more than $450 million in research, professional and public education, advocacy and com- munity service programs. The A.H.A. has two affiliated Websites: HeartHub.org (for patients, families, care- givers, etc.) and My.AmericanHeart.org (for health-care and scientific research professionals). "HeartHub is our featured patient portal, which has a whole series of tools and resources for caregivers and family. The site has won numerous awards, and the tools have been showcased in a variety of ways," says Patrick Wayte, the A.H.A.'s vice presi- dent of marketing and health education. With easy-to-identify icons, the helpful tools section of the site gives users quick access to risk assessments, health trackers, treatment options, animations, illustrations and more. These interactive tools help patients evaluate their risk levels and track their blood pressure, weight or other personal 24 May / June 2011 sionals, who cut across a variety of disci- plines, some 25,000 strong," Wayte observes. "They are involved in clinical cardiology, research, emergency cardiovascular care, nursing — it's a broad spectrum of con- stituents, each of whom is associated with one or more of our 16 councils of interest. About 20 percent of them are international." Its internal LMS is oriented toward continu- ing education for its members, all of which is accessible via the main Website. The site for professionals features an extensive learning library, statements and guidelines, a professional education center, a professional online network dedicated to sharing and collaboration, scientific coun- cils, news on clinical trials, and in-depth info on strokes and cardiovascular issues. From the main site, visitors have the abili- ty to go back and forth between the two sites. "But we want to be real clear to medical providers what we have for patients, so they can use these resources in their prac- tice," Wayte says. "We want them to let patients know that they can download or buy tools and videos." Providing information is not new to the A.H.A. "When you think back to the begin- nings of who and what the A.H.A. is, it was multiple cardiologists getting together," notes Wayte. "So fundamentally what we're doing is about learning; it's about people self-actualizing, people having deep under- standing of personal health. Everything we do in that regard is designed to get people as tailored to health information as we can, at the times when it's most useful to them — and that includes caregivers." However, some of the modalities to pro- vide that information and knowledge are evolving. "The world is changing," Wayte admits. "Doctors are more inclined to access information digitally and use differ- ent types of tools in their practice, so we've changed with those times as well. We're starting to offer select tools and resources in conjunction with several different part- ners. Everything we do is integrated into the social media world, so it can be quickly accessed and shared with friends. "Our view is that while it's perfectly accept- able to try and pull people to our informa- tion sources, the reality is that we're increas- ingly trying to be where people are," he con- tinues. "We are expanding our social commu- nications and other ways to reach people through new types of partnerships. We're try- ing to move content out into the marketplace in different ways with different relationships." The public and A.H.A.'s professional community have been quick to embrace the use of the organization's digital-based information. "Over the last few years, we've seen good results in usage," says Wayte. "Clearly, our learning portals are integrated into our larger Website, heart.org, but they're also distinct. So we track aggregate traffic, but we also track the two sites independently. There are a number of ways to access us, so we get a lot of feedback." Internally, the A.H.A. has its own learn- ing management system that is oriented toward continuing education for its mem- bers. That includes accreditation for med- ical training and emergency cardiovascu- lar care training — and it's all accessible through the My.AmericanHeart.org site. "There are many diverse aspects to what we do," Wayte concludes. "But sharing and driving knowledge to professionals, patients, consumers and caregivers is a core function." Government Elearning!

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