We hear the term health coach more and more these days so I wanted to explore the role of the health coach in this blog post. A health coach is a coach for people who want to or who are contemplating making behavioral changes that result in a healthier lifestyle. A health coach is a type of healthcare extender trained to help others set goals and be accountable for themselves as they begin a journey to improve their overall health and quality of life.

Almost a year into the pandemic we’ve transitioned most of our teaching and learning into completely virtual activities. By now most of us have participated in some live online activity by connecting with others via technology services such as ZOOM or Webex. For the most part, this modality seems to be delivering effective instruction in an accessible and convenient way, and literally meeting learners where they are via broadband Internet.

One of my favorite things to do it sit, listen, and talk with interesting people. For almost two years now I have had the pleasure of sitting down with some beautiful humans and recording these conversations for our Healthcare Insights in Northwest North Carolina podcast https://soundcloud.com/nwahecwebmaster

I was on the Cybex elliptical for some early morning cardio listening to the QuickRead Podcast summarizing the book Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley. Here I heard of the PIC method to increase the ability to store long term memory. The PIC method of learning is thinking about your Purpose, Interest, and Curiosity about the topic at hand. No matter the modality of a learning activity, we must ask ourselves what is our purpose for participating, why are we interested, and how can we enhance our curiosity towards the subject matter. Approaching a learning activity this way helps you dial in your concentration and helps you create long term memory to retain new information, clinical pearls, and life lessons.

I recently connected with Jeremy Moseley, the Director of Community Engagement of FaithHealth, to discuss the mission and their ministries. Their mission is to build, align and animate religious and community assets to improve access to health care and the health of the community - a mission that aligns well with Northwest AHEC's. 

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is one of our main service areas at Northwest AHEC. We provide a myriad of learning activities throughout the year for all healthcare disciplines. Many who attend these activities are doing so to earn continuing education credits that keep licensure requirements current. While it is important, earning CE credits doesn't need to be the only motivating factor. So why not create a new path to enhance your career and earning potential by discovering new ways to expand your knowledge as a lifelong learner?

Mapping the customer journey is an important strategic exercise most businesses do at some point. Our customers, or Learners as we in the AHEC say, have a motivation or desire to learn more to stay current, comply with licensure requirements, and be an active lifelong learner. I’d like to share what goes into our workflow when we think of our learners through their journey in continuing professional development with Northwest AHEC.

“Mental hygiene and physical wellness are key to engagement, absorption, and retention.”

By now you have most likely attended a virtual event or at least have signed up to attend one soon. Perhaps you have reached expert level in Zoom, Skype, Webex, or other virtual meeting platform. And you've likely had days where you were ZOOMed out or reached online meeting fatigue level! And if you have no idea what I am talking about then consider yourself lucky!

Earlier this week I attended a very informative masterclass on Learner Engagement in live instructor trainings (LIT) given by Training Industry Magazine. The lessons apply even more for virtual live instructor trainings (VLIT) as well which is how most of us have been participating in any kind of training and development programs since March 2020. Below are the highlights that I would like to share with you.