Ziehm imaging implements Totara Learn to move towards a blended learning programme

Ziehm Imaging is a leading specialist in the creation of mobile x-ray systems for intra-operative use. They deliver a range of innovative C-arm systems focused on physicians’ needs and the care of patients.

The Challenge

Each year, distributors of Ziehm Imaging’s mobile x-ray machines from all over the world visit the Ziehm Imaging headquarters in Germany for several weeks at a time as part of the medical device provider’s training program.

They attend training sessions to help them better understand the products they are selling, and even distributors operating in remote regions may also need to know how to carry out repair work or maintenance on the complex mobile imaging systems.

However, these distributors often wished that there was more time to carry out practical exercises in these face-to-face training sessions, so Ziehm Imaging needed a new solution.

In addition to that, there was no scalable solution for systematic documentation of the competencies and educational levels of Ziehm Imaging employees.

As the healthcare sector has specific regulatory requirements, this part is crucial for compliance with the different regulations in their target markets.

The Solution

Ziehm Imaging understood the limitations and expense of the onsite training for distributors who had to travel to Germany for their training, so they decided to look for a solution to help them make more efficient use of this in-person training. They chose to work with Totara Partner LearnChamp to come up with a better way of delivering this learning to overseas learners. Ziehm Imaging looked at several learning management systems before eventually deciding on Totara Learn.

While some elements of the onsite training needed to stay in place, LearnChamp and Ziehm Imaging quickly identified the potential to move some parts of the learning online. LearnChamp worked to convert some of the theoretical training into e-learning, made available via Totara Learn for course participants. These e-learning modules are compulsory, and must be taken before the onsite training to leave more time for practical exercises and questions during the face-to-face sessions.

The LMS has two separate views: one is for the interactive learning modules for distributors, and the other is for internal training. For the internal training, Ziehm Imaging bought over 100 courses on rhetoric skills, computer programs and compliance topics, as well as content they’re creating themselves. With some customization, they are also able to manage and track their employees formal learning within one system.

Totara Learn allows Ziehm Imaging to manage face-to-face training through the LMS itself, which they find very useful as very few other tools support this by default. As well as the face-to-face training, LearnChamp created many add-ons as well as doing extra development work to tailor the LMS to suit the customer’s needs, as Ziehm Imaging don’t themselves have the technical knowhow or staff to do it.

Ziehm Imaging believes that the fact that Totara Learn is open source has numerous advantages. For instance, the source code is open, and anyone with SQL skills can learn to work with it, unlike proprietary alternatives. It was also beneficial to be able to work with a system that doesn’t lock them into a single vendor thus giving them more freedom and less future risk.

The Results

The distributors are very pleased with the switch to a blended learning concept, as this allows them to prepare before travelling to Germany.

In addition, they now have an interactive library that can always be accessed enabling them to look up specific knowledge that might be required for an issue in the field.

There are also plans for modularisation to offer smaller learning units, along with video tutorials for a more media-rich approach to learning.

Training events of their own employees are also managed and tracked via Totara Learn, allowing Ziehm Imaging to always be compliant with regard to regulatory requirements.

In the long run, the LMS could be used for competency management and performance measurement or even as a marketing tool for potential customers.

We were looking for a solution that could serve both, internal and external training activities, within one system. With its great flexibility in configuration and customization, Totara Learn is the ideal platform to deliver and document all training events from either our external sales and service partners or our own employees. A key requirement was that the LMS can also handle our demanding registration workflows for classroom training. LearnChamp have done a fantastic job in customising the face-to-face module to exactly what is needed. – Johannes Beier, Specialist Customer Training & Education, Ziehm Imaging