Majen: Medication Management

About

Majen is a company specializing in certification training for caregivers in Assisted Living Facilities. The project began with a PowerPoint from their existing Instructor-Led Training (ILT). They wanted to transform their ILT into an 8-hour course for certification approval by the Nevada Board.

Our company offered a program called “Head Start,” where we script and develop the first hour of training, then take on a consulting role for the second hour, allowing the client to learn and continue developing the module independently. As a result, this project covered only the first hour of their eight-hour course.

Audience

Mostly women of all ages. A large number of ESL speakers. Content needed to be easily understood.

Starting Materials

Full eight hour PowerPoint of existing ILT, used only the first 44 slides.
Learner Guide for the existing ILT.
Text-to-speech recorded “narration” of the course being presented live. I used this together with the PowerPoint and Learner Guide to get a complete picture.
Learning objectives, particular for the certification training.

Process

We followed the same process as usual, however the kickoff meeting was slightly different. Due to this being a “Head Start” project, we discussed how the client will continue the modules, including narration, sourcing images, and what software they plan to use (Storyline in this case). The owner has a friend who will do the narration. There are free stock photo websites, and they plan on purchasing a Storyline 360 license which contains a library of photos.

We also spent a little time going through the entire eight-hour PowerPoint. We discussed if they wanted to rearrange any content within the entirety of the course, because this is the chance to do so. Eventually we decided to keep the high-level structure the same. Additionally, this was out of scope for the “Head Start” program.

While making the high-level outline for the course, I needed to make a lot of structural changes. Due to this being originally ILT, there were a lot of discussion slides. I took a “backwards” approach for these parts. I found the end result, what the discussion was steering toward, and I introduced that first – although some areas I did introduce the topic with an open-ended question to get the learner’s mind working toward the ultimate goal. This was then usually followed up by interactions or assessments to reinforce that knowledge.

I was unfamiliar with the content due to it being heavy in medical terms. However, I was able to make an eLearning module the client was very happy with at the end.

508 Compliance

This module did not require full 508 compliance, but our standard practice is to revise focus order, ensure unnecessary elements are not included in the focus sequence, add alt text where needed, and provide real-time closed captions. Unfortunately, drag-and-drop interactions (such as the prescription label exercise described below) are inherently inaccessible due to requiring a mouse or a finger on a touchscreen.

Notable Slides

"Six Routes" of Medication

This slide explained how different types of medication are administered. Initially, it seemed like a good fit for a “click-to-reveal” interaction with six layers, as there were six routes. This format works well for information that can fit into a self-contained layer. However, upon closer inspection, some of these items required more content than a simple layer could provide. For example, the "oral" medication type includes five different types of pills, each needing a brief explanation. Similarly, the topical and transdermal routes required more text for comparison. Therefore, I used this slide as a brief introduction to the six routes, with neat icons on a six-panel infographic. I then created a separate click-to-reveal slide for the five types of pills, as well as for the topical and transdermal routes.

"Six Rights" of Medication Safety

For this, we decided on a click-to-reveal interaction. We used an image of a woman and highlighted six different parts of her body, each representing one of the six rights. For example, the head signified making sure you have the right person, while the wrist represented ensuring it’s the right time.

Scenario for the "Six Rights"

After explaining the six rights further, we created a scenario where the learner was presented with a patient. We used two patient scenarios to contrast points. The first scenario featured Harold.

The slide displayed Harold’s Medication Administration Record (MAR) with his name, medication, and instructions (“give one tablet by mouth four times daily for 10 days”). A prescription label on the medication also showed the pharmacy and doctor information, along with the same instructions.

Learners were asked sequential questions based on the “Six Rights.” First by checking if they had the right person, then checking if it was the right drug by comparing the MAR to the prescription label. Learners were meant to call out when there was a discrepancy.

Abbreviation Meanings

Before this exercise, we explained common abbreviations used on prescription labels, which can be confusing. As a knowledge check, we presented a prescription label with an incomplete “translation” below it, consisting of several empty boxes. The learner had to drag the correct translation into the boxes. For example, the prescription “Prilosec 20 mg i tab PO TID AC” was partially translated as “Prilosec 20 ____ ____ ____ ____ ____,” and the learner had to drag “milligrams” to the first blank, “take one tablet” to the second blank, and so on.

Military Time Conversion

In this interaction, learners were given either an analog or military time and had to convert it into the correct time format in the provided space.