BSMS Journal article - Winter 1998

With this one I was left to my own resources to find a topic to write about:

Jon Perkins argues the case for providing training for IT users

Question and Answer forum

It occurred to me in the days following the publication of the new-look autumn edition of this journal that my previous column omitted to mention that it was intended to be a question and answer forum for you to contribute questions to. The first batch of questions was submitted to me from the editorial staff in order to get the column up and running. However the hope was that you would submit questions from now on so that we can be of more specific help than just explaining what 'windows' are. Therefore I intend to start this month's column with a few words about how I intend to run it. If you have any questions about computer issues in general then please email me (address at end of page) or submit it in writing to the editor, and I will attempt to get an answer back to you. When I am compiling this column I will select the most interesting questions and write up the answers for everybody to read. If I don't get enough questions for a column then I'll write about general computer topics that I think might be of interest, which is what I'm doing this month. Please remember though that, like you, I have to work for a living so I might not always be able to get an answer to you immediately. I will, though, attempt to answer all questions if I can.

Training

As somebody who gets to meet quite a lot of computer users during my travels I am familiar with the fact that many such individuals have not been properly trained in the use of the software on their computers. This obviously means that the user isn't getting the full benefit from the product, and in some cases can actually be less efficient than would otherwise be the case with a good old simple typewriter. Sadly I often see IT users who have had new computers dumped on their desk and are basically be left to get on with it. I have generally observed that there are three reasons for this lack of training:

1. General apathy, either on the part of the user or the manager (or both)
   
   
2. Frustration on the managers' part that technology is changing so quickly
   
   
3. Concern that once a user has been given training then he/she will go and get a "better job"

Point one obviously has no practical reply. Point two is understandable but counterproductive; while there is still arguably a terrifically fast pace of change happening within the computer industry, the modern tools available to medical staff (e.g. Windows 95 and Microsoft Office) have undergone their "revolutionary" changes and are now taking more gentle "evolutionary" steps forward. As for point three, I tend to disagree with this issue in most cases. If there is a higher paid job out there then it is likely that staff either will or won't go for it anyway. If, however, staff are given quality training at regular intervals then this in fact acts as a draw to stay in the same job. After all, moving on to a new job is no guarantee that the level of training will be as good as at the previous place. I've noticed that people tend to prefer to know that they are being kept employable and will actually avoid taking a jump for a small pay increase purely for the peace of mind that they are retaining their employability.

So what sort of IT training should you be given? This of course depends upon what sort of IT you work with, and this in turn probably depends upon whether you work in a hospital or a medical surgery. If you are in a hospital then there is a good chance that you have a word-processor program that is part of the hospital mainframe computer. Alternatively if you are in a surgery then you might well use Microsoft Office running under Windows, or and older DOS-based program such as WordStar or WordPerfect. In either case the short answer is that you should receive training for each application that you have access to. The amount of training is of course proportional to the complexity of the software. In some cases it is quite suitable to have an already experienced colleague spend twenty minutes with you to explain the procedure. However if you have been given a full-blown word processor that you haven't used before (particularly if you are new to word processing) then you should probably attend a properly developed training course. While most modern software is designed to be intuitive from the outset the simplicity can be deceptive because the more complex functionality will be deliberately kept out of the way so that it isn't confusing. For example a mail-merge operation is something that a secretary will need to do from time to time but she would not expect to do this while still learning the basics of word processing. By the way, a mail merge is when you create a "template" document and a target list of names and addresses and then print out a customised letter to every name in the list.

The general lack of IT training is something of a cause for concern for business in general. With the reliance on computers now greater than it has ever been the requirement for trained staff is at a premium. It is up to everybody who understands this point to make a case for a properly thought out training plan.