Digital training offensive for medical assistants (MFA): MHH digitizes the professional training with the learning platform simpleclub.
MHH and simpleclub provide an important impulse for a profession with a future: Strengthening the training of medical assistants (MFA) through a newly developed digital learning platform. Copyright: Karin Kaiser / MHH
Medical Professionals (MFAs) are multi-talented with a variety of tasks: They care for patients, take on administrative and documentation tasks and organise workflows. They work in outpatient clinics, practices, clinics and health centres. “In the future, patient care and prevention will be provided by multi-professional teams. With more than 3,000 new contracts concluded in medicine and dentistry last year, this training profession was the TOP1 in Lower Saxony. We fully support MFA training in order to prepare trainees as well as possible for future challenges,” explains Professor Dr. Frank Lammert, Member of the Board of Management for Health Care and Vice President of MHH. The MHH is therefore embarking on a new path throughout Germany: a cooperation with the digital learning platform simpleclub has been initiated, which will become an integral part of the three-year vocational training and will make it more modern, attractive and better. “We see the immense importance of digital education for all health professions – not only in the courses already established at MHH,” says Professor Lammert.
MHH increases the number of trainees
At the MHH there are currently a total of around 50 young women and men in the three-year training to become medical specialists. This year, another 25 young people will start an MFA training course at the MHH. For newcomers, the simpleclub digital learning platform is included from the beginning and will accompany them until the final exam - full access to simpleclub is provided free of charge by the MHH for all. The MHH has launched an overall training offensive and increased the number of trainees in all occupations to over 800 last year.
Two professional teams side by side
With simpleclub, MHH has an experienced partner in the field of digital education at its side. simpleclub is Germany’s best-known and most popular learning platform with over two million users a month. Started in the school sector, the startup expanded its product range in mid-2021 to also support apprentices. “Digitalisation is the key to progress for the further development of our healthcare system. We are proud to be working with MHH to digitalise MFA training,” explains Nicolai Schork, simpleclub founder and CEO, explaining this step. Comprehensive content on 20 apprenticeships is already offered. In comes the health sector – here the training as an MFA. “We want to focus on supporting the careers that are important for society and for which few digital resources are available so far. Our commitment to healthcare is only logical,” says Alexander Giesecke, also founder and CEO of simpleclub.
Learning platform with more than 2,000 contents
Digital training is complex and intensive: 392 topics of MFA training are processed on the platform. A total of 2,000 content in the form of texts, videos, interactive graphics and animations as well as exercises are available to the trainees. The contents are developed by experts at the highest didactic level and evaluated in collaboration with the MHH. The Training Ordinance and the underlying framework curriculum serve as a basis.
Everything for learning is on the mobile phone
The first content of the app has already been tested by MFA trainees at MHH. “The index card system with the technical terms is super practical,” says Victoria Minch. She has also played through individual exam situations. “The app is a great help, also because many things are explained differently than in the textbook,” she says. Her colleague Watife Lanotte particularly appreciates the interactive elements. An example: the trainees can “touch” on the screen where the pulse is best measured on the arm. “Even though it is virtual, everything seems practical,” says the trainee. Joe Onur, head of MFA training at MHH, is enthusiastic about the digital support for the apprentices: “In many places, the transfer of knowledge is better than in the textbook. An app is particularly attractive for young people, so they have everything they need to learn on their mobile phones. ”
Popular dual vocational training
There are approximately 43,000 medical professionals in Germany. According to a survey by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, the occupation was the most popular dual training occupation among women in 2022. Nevertheless, around 500 new MFA training contracts were signed in Germany in 2022, compared to the previous year. “We anticipate that the need for specialists in practices and other outpatient areas will continue to increase. Especially in the established sector, we are searching for qualified applicants for doctors and doctors,” says Dr. Marion Charlotte Renneberg, Vice President of the Medical Chamber of Lower Saxony and specialist in general medicine. “It is therefore all the more important to consciously promote young talent and to emphasise to young people that the MFA profession is exciting and versatile,” says Renneberg. “This is one of the reasons why the Lower Saxony Medical Association launched a campaign in 2021 to promote young professionals in MFA (mfa-niedersachsen.de), which, in addition to the important work of our training advisors in the regional district offices, provides information about the system-relevant training profession.” Professor Lammert adds: “We see the immense importance and value of this cooperation for the entire healthcare industry and are therefore jointly committed to the employees in clinics and practices."
Author: Tina Götting