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May 24, 2004

Virtual Assist, Real Training
By Kara McDonald
Vol. 5 No. 11 p. 24

What do you get when you cross customer service with long-distance learning? At GE Healthcare, you get the latest development in GE’s Training in Partnership (TiP) program, TiP Virtual Assist (TVA).

TVA is GE’s most hands-on TiP program to date—despite the fact that the trainer and trainee might be thousands of miles apart. “TVA is like having your own personal trainer at the gym,” says Jack Albertson, global manager of the TiP program. “We’re there to maximize your understanding and skills.”

The original idea for TiP came in the early 1990s when Albertson, hired as applications manager, thought there was more GE could do to connect with its customers. “TiP was established because customers were telling us they needed more training and different types of training offerings and experience to choose from,” says Albertson. “We developed TiP to fill that niche.”

He says TiP programs come in a “smorgasbord” of training mediums, including on-site, television, interactive tutorials, training via telephone, and classroom training at GE’s Milwaukee headquarters.

“Years ago we virtually did one thing, and that was on-site applications,” says Albertson. “Today we offer a very structured set of curriculums in every TiP training product, including testing and assessment. What drives TiP customer satisfaction—besides quality—is the variety of well-structured TiP training products where customers have a choice as to how they want to be trained so they can fit it into their already very busy schedules.”

Virtual Assist
That’s where TVA comes into the picture. “TVA is powered by a high-speed broadband link to connect the trainer with the customer’s workstation,” Albertson says. “It provides real-time, interactive training that is relatively simple to set up. We preorganize a time to call the customer, tell the customer to click on a button in the system, and then not only can we talk them through the training via phone, but we can also see where they are in the system because we’re looking at the same screen. It makes the entire training process more convenient and resourceful because it’s like the trainer is right there with you to demonstrate skills and answer questions.”

TVA sessions are taught in one- to two-hour increments, which provide enough time to learn and, more importantly, remember, says Albertson. “Equipment has become more complicated as technology has advanced—some of our equipment has up to 10 more software [programs] than it did five years ago, and remembering how to use all of it can be extremely difficult,” he says. “Think about a two-day training seminar—you’re lucky to remember 15% of the training you learned over a 16-hour period. The two-hour segments are better for information retention.”

The sessions are also tailored for groups of four technologists at a time to provide enough individual attention to each trainee. Albertson says this individualized approach is one of TVA’s strengths. “We realize that every department is different, so we give the customer a lot of choices,” he says. “They can figure out any training they need depending on their department, and we will custom-make their program.”

Another plus is the program’s flexibility. “If a customer realizes that they have a procedure to do tomorrow and he or she can’t remember how to use the equipment or is unsure of its capabilities, they can literally call us today and schedule a session,” says Albertson. “Most facilities schedule sessions a week or so in advance, but with 24 hours notice, we can do it.”

Business and Benefits
Linda Edmondson, GE’s strategic communications manager, says TVA’s benefits stretch beyond simply improving training procedures. “It’s about optimizing the technology you purchased,” she says. “Hospitals want to get a return on investment as quickly as possible, and that’s all about throughput. When the staff is trained better, the technology can be optimized and they can provide better patient care faster. That time equals money, and hospitals are businesses, too—it all comes down to revenue.”

Albertson adds that in addition to the management of training costs and increased throughput, TVA also provides a chance for radiology departments to decrease procedure time and reduce retakes. “We’re helping the customer realize the entire capability of the product, not only from speed but also from a quality standpoint. We want our customers to be as productive as they can possibly be,” he says.

Edmondson says it’s important to maximize the many uses of the equipment a customer has to stay competitive. “You can learn new procedures with TVA, which can really open up the market for your facility—especially if you’re the only hospital in the area that is trained in that particular area,” she says.

This multiple-usage theory goes for GE as well. “There are advantages to being connected to us,” Edmondson says. “We’re not just there to train you—you can call us up for remote analysis if you’re having equipment glitches, etc. We provide constant support, whether it be training or not.”

Customer Satisfaction
Though TVA debuted in November 2003, Albertson says GE has already done more than 500 hours of training. “We’ve had more than 140 customers, and overall, customers just love the program,” he says. “They think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread—both technologists and physicians.”

One such satisfied customer is Bill Garrisi, BA, RT(R), who is the CT supervisor at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse. “I could go on and on about TVA—it’s just so tremendously helpful,” he says. “While you can never replace good in-person training, by all means this is an extremely close second.”

Garrisi, who first learned about TVA while serving on an education advisory board for GE, says TVA is a product of good customer relations on GE’s part. “GE asked its customers to get together to discuss what GE could do to make their lives easier,” he says. “They basically asked customers to help them so they could help us.”

He says he knew right away that the program was a perfect fit for his facility. “As soon as I knew it was available, I thought, ‘I want that,’” he says. “Since I’m such a computer person, I went nuts—for me to have access to such high-end assistance was so convenient and helpful.”

Garrisi says convenience and flexibility are major perks of the program. “With my crazy days and schedule, it’s a huge help to be able to schedule short training times and actually remember how to use what I’ve learned. Most of the time I work with a high-end trainer from GE and then train my staff, so it’s a schedule that works for everyone. It truly is a better-customized training method,” he explains.

The Impact of TVA
Garrisi has found that while TVA offers excellent training, it can also have other uses, such as connecting professionals with one another to share knowledge and experiences. “The images that can be produced now are so far superior to what we used to be able to do that sometimes we wonder if what we’re looking at is real because they almost look too real,” he says. “Sometimes we have to stop and go back to the books because we’ve never seen such images before. That’s where TVA comes in—it hooks me up with people who know more about imaging than I might. I get them online through TVA and since we can see the same image, I can ask them what exactly we’re looking at.”

Looking to the future, Albertson says, “Our present target audience is radiology technologists. Right now we do CT and MR, but by the end of the year, TVA will be available on every GE product.”

Garrisi says this is something all imaging professionals can look forward to—not just for convenience purposes, but for more personal ones as well. “It’s so exciting for me to work with these other professionals through TVA,” he says. “I’ve been in this field for over 20 years, and for me, it’s taken CT back to being amazing and fun like it was when I first started. Because I have access to these high-level people, it’s brought a lot of fun to things.”

— Kara McDonald is an editorial assistant at Radiology Today.

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