Case Study: Building a Marketplace to Upskill Nurse Practitioners

Words by
Tanzi Khakimova
|
Written on
April 3, 2024
|
3
Min
Last updated on
April 3, 2024

"We are creating a program where subject matter experts are available for nurse practitioners to book a visit to their clinic and do skills teaching and demos. The clinic would book the expert based on their availability and then the expert would bill us. We are trying to make this with as little administrative burden as possible."

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Customer

The Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia (NNPBC) is a professional organization supporting more than 40,000 healthcare practitioners across the province, acting on behalf of its members to advance the profession and influence health and social policy.

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are advanced practice nurses who have completed master's level or higher education in nursing with integrated medical sciences. NPs are primary care providers who practice in many settings.

The Nurse Practitioners Provincial Initiatives and Programs (NP-PIP) team at NNPBC supports independent NPs and administers funding from the Ministry of Health for various initiatives including professional development.

Situation

NP-PIP team contacted us after hearing that Primary Care NPs lacked peer-based in-person training opportunities in British Columbia. The Mobile Skills Program has been designed to meet these needs. The Program was designed to provide peer-to-peer in-person learning opportunities for Primary Care NPs to elevate the delivery of care.

💡 The Mobile Skills Experts directory makes it easy for NPs to find the right experts and book them to deliver training so that clinic teams can augment their skills.

The Mobile Skills Program is an NP-led reimbursement-based program where a Healthcare Practitioner can become an approved subject matter expert and register their profile with the Experts Directory. Mobile Skills Experts are reimbursed by the NP-PIP based on the training sessions delivered to the NPs in clinics and other settings.

🎯 The NP-PIP team manages the Mobile Skills Experts directory, reviews and approves Expert profiles, and administers the funding for training sessions on clinical skills.

Target Audience

  1. Experts
    • Healthcare practitioners with specialized clinical skills
    • Could be NPs, physicians or other healthcare practitioners
    • Share availability in an automated calendar workflow for NPs to book
  2. NPs
    • Working in clinics
    • Want to learn skills
    • Search for experts by skill and region
    • Easily book experts to deliver training
  3. NNPBC
    • Administering the funding by reimbursing Experts for time and resources spent preparing for and delivering a clinical skill training session
    • Track bookings and other data for reporting internally and to the Ministry of Health

Our team was then asked to build the platform to deliver this new initiative.

Initial Requirements

  • Seamless process (less admin) for experts
  • Easy booking by NPs
  • Limited admin needs for NNPBC

Project Goals

Our overall objective is to design an app that enables experts and clinic teams to easily connect for training through a seamless booking experience.

  1. Build a web application
  2. Develop supporting documentation
  3. Automate administrative processes and workflows

Impact & Results

  • 32 Active Mobile Skills Experts on the platform, delivering training:
    • on 45 Clinical Skills
    • to 90+ Clinics across the province of British Columbia
  • 100+ training sessions since launch in June 2022
  • 290+ Primary Care NPs attended the sessions
  • 300+ hours of training delivered
NNPBC Mobile Skills: Home page browsing on Mobile Skills Experts

Some of the features of the Mobile Skills Program platform include:

✅ Self-service sign up process for both NPs and Experts

✅ NPs can browse the experts, filter by clinical skills and location

✅ Experts can apply through the platform; they have a profile page where they describe their experience and the learning sessions they offer

✅ NPs can book sessions through a Calendly integration

✅ Experts can submit claims for reimbursement

✅ Application and approval workflows for expert applications are managed in Airtable

✅ Automations for notifications on sign-ups, bookings, claims

Technology

  • Airtable - already being used by the client to manage workflows.
  • Softr - the front-end of the platform, where clinics can browse and book experts and Experts can manage compensation claims to NP-PIP.
  • Calendly - the booking calendar integration used as a medium for clinics to see and find Experts’ availability.
NNPBC Mobile Skills: Expert Profile page view

The platform was launched in June 2022.

Check out the site at https://mobileskills.nnpbc.com/

"I love working with Cue North. The team always provide practical solutions in a short timeline. They are responsive and approachable."
Kayleigh Maryon

Kayleigh Maryon

Program Administrative Manager, NP Provincial Initiatives, Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of B.C.

Tanzi Khakimova
Tanzi Khakimova
Design and Implementation Consultant

Scaling organizations and amplifying social impact through data, processes and digital products.