Peculiarities of training pharmacists – the case of «ANC» company
Pharmacy of low prices (ANC (“apteka nizkih cin” in Ukrainian)) is the largest pharmacy network, which occupies a leading place in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine. The ANC network includes such popular brands as: “Kopiika”, “Shara”, “Blagodiya. Within 20 years the “ANC” managed to open more than 850 pharmacies in each region of the country. The company has approximately 6,000 employees, 5,000 of which are active users of LMS Collaborator.
Dmitry Kryshen, head of training and development sector at ANC, told us about the peculiarities of distance learning organization at ANC.
ANC portal facts:
- LMS Collaborator was implemented in July 2019.
- The main purpose of implementing the system for distance learning is to deliver the right information to employees in the shortest possible time.
- 5000 active users of the portal.
- Most of the courses and activities are designed for line staff of the company: pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, heads of pharmacies.
– Does your company have mandatory training?
– We have mandatory training for new employees and applicants for new positions. When a trainee joins the company, an LMS Collaborator account is automatically created for him and courses are assigned according to the position. Until he or she passes them, he or she will not be placed on probation. There are also regular mandatory courses from our partners, for which employees are rewarded – additional points to their rating. We try not to overload employees with training. There is a clear training plan, which is adopted for a month. According to this plan, we launch a new training course no more than once a week. Employees in certain positions are assigned additional courses.
– What does the training program for your employees consist of?
– A training program consists of a list of required materials that employees should learn. This can be presentations and video lessons followed by knowledge tests. If we are talking about a training course, it is often presentations from our partners about a new product and knowledge tests. In the near future, we plan to implement full scorm-format courses: conversational simulators and simply visual interactive courses.
Training course for employees on the educational portal “ANC”
– Tell us about the peculiarities of training in the field of pharmacy. What training formats do you use? What are the main topics of content?
– We use a mixed model of training for pharmacists, pharmacists, and supervisors: face-to-face and e-learning. Every week the company holds 3-4 webinars for our employees, which are held with the help of integrated into the LMS Collaborator webinar service – eTutorium. Face-to-face training is conducted by training managers who work with new employees on the spot. Or business trainers who conduct classroom trainings. All remaining needs are covered by the distance learning system. Under the conditions of quarantine, the DLS has become an indispensable assistant for us. Now we actively use the Knowledge Base as a repository of corporate information. In Collaborator we store all the necessary documents for employees. We also actively use tests and surveys of employees’ personal opinion.
– Tell us more about webinars. How does the preparation and the webinar itself go?
– We have approved training programs for which we conduct webinars. Often the webinars are about our internal processes or are adaptation webinars that are designed to get employees into their positions more accurately. Our team of business trainers, who are currently not available to provide training, work on the creation of webinars.
Webinar for “ANS” employees – “Fundamentals of management”
Webinars, like all training in the company are planned for a month. Together with the sales department, we make a schedule of webinars. We choose convenient time for employees and assign the webinar as a training assignment in Collaborator. We also send out reminders about the upcoming webinar via corporate e-mail.
– You said that you actively use the Knowledge Base. Can you tell us more about it?
– In the Knowledge Base, we store all the necessary materials for training. We actively develop video instructions and video tutorials, and sometimes we duplicate important informational messages that are sent via corporate e-mail. Also, in the Knowledge Base we place all necessary documentation, procedures, regulations and work instructions. The Knowledge Base is one of our priorities. Thanks to it any employee of the company can always find an answer to the necessary question.
ANC knowledge base
– Do you evaluate your users? How does it work?
– At the moment, employees who have been trained are evaluated. We have approved regulations, according to which once a year all specialists are evaluated. This general certification is scheduled for August. And now we are developing all the necessary processes.
– What methods do you use to involve employees in training?
– We have an internal evaluation which we use to motivate our employees. Rewarding or on the contrary, punishing them with bonus points in the form of rating. We also use administrative influence – we involve local managers into the training process. Sometimes, if the specialists are not controlled and pushed, they will look for the reasons to skip the training. We do not use monetary penalties, because we consider this type of punishment wrong.
User profile
– What changes in the company can be said to be the result of the implementation of e-learning?
– First, it’s an improvement in service standards. Last year we made very important changes to the service standards, they were revised and significantly changed. The main tool for implementing training on the standards was the distance learning system. There were a large number of face-to-face trainings, but it is physically impossible to cover all employees. Therefore, we actively began to use LMS Collaborator. With a frequency of once every 3 months we are testing the standards of service in the portal Collaborator. Also, we conduct webinars. Now the results of mystery shopping shows a positive trend. And I can say with confidence that this is thanks to the system for distance learning.
– In what areas do you plan to further develop the portal?
– We have been working with the system for almost a year, and during this time, we have taught the employees how to use it, we have made it a single assessment and training tool, we have filled the Knowledge Base. In the next few months we are actively planning to finish the issue with placement of actual information. Some things need to be changed and revised. Next, we will focus on the introduction of interactive courses. So that specialists understand that the DLS is a tool that is designed primarily for acquiring new knowledge, not as a system of control and additional tasks. We also plan to implement evaluation procedures based on Collaborator.
