TVA training enables the GE trainer to connect his or her laptop directly with the customer's imaging console for remote equipment training. While they may be hundreds or even thousands of miles apart, a high-speed broadband link allows trainer and trainee to see the same screens simultaneously and share control of the cursor. They're also in constant audio contact over the phone.

Just like during onsite applications training, TVA trainers can demonstrate a procedure, moving the cursor and clicking on the software keys to walk the student through the various steps. The student, in turn, can take control of the cursor and practice the steps as the trainer observes

"TiP Virtual Assist is a unique, state-of-the-art training model that matches the advanced technology of GE imaging systems and workstations. It delivers maximum training value to the user and to the institution," says Jack Albertson, global manager of TiP applications programs, who came up with the idea for TVA and now oversees its development. TiP stands for Training in Partnership, GE's applications training group.

TVA is a concept whose time has come and time is the key word. In today's resource-strained, high-volume radiology departments, radiologists and technologists are simply too busy to commit to large amounts of training time.

"With onsite training, our specialists have to fly in and spend an entire day at a site. Unfortunately, the content-rich portion of the visit - the time they're actually teaching - is usually only two or three hours due to staff commitments," explains Charles Dellis, TiP Support Services manager for GE Medical Technology Services.

"TVA is chainging the way
applications training is deliverd"
- Jim Carder, RT, GE healthcare

Compounding the problem is the unpredictable schedules of the trainees, especially radiologists. "It's rare to find a radiologist who can give you a full morning," says CT applications specialist Peterson. "You're likely to get only an hour here or a half-hour there."

The Medical Center of Central Georgia decided to have two four-hour sessions on successive days, with two technologists in each session. Using TVA, the total training time for all four technologists was eight hours, compared with the 16-hour investment of time that onsite training would have required.

The Medical Center of Central Georgia decided to have two four-hour sessions on successive days, with two technologists in each session. Using TVA, the total training time for all four technologists was eight hours, compared with the 16-hour investment of time that onsite training would have required.

Such pinpoint scheduling enables the specialists to be more productive as well. "With TVA, we can do more for customers in a more timely manner," says Carder. "It's now possible for us to 'visit' two or three or four hospitals in a single day."

That increased availability, according to one radiology manager, is just what healthcare institutions are looking for. "We see TVA as a way for us to gain much greater accessibility to knowledgeable trainers for our staff," says Janice Sheppard, RT, director of Radiology Technical Services at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

In addition to its use in formal training, TVA is also a valuable tool for assisting customers:

• Procedure refreshers. If a customer has an upcoming procedure that is seldom performed, they can schedule a TVA session to run through the protocol with a live TiP clinical applications specialist.

• Equipment adjustments. "A customer called the other day, wanting me to make an adjustment to their Advantage Windows Workstation," explains Carder. "It is something I seldom do, so I didn't have the screens memorized. So I simply logged onto their system via TVA and talked them through the adjustment."

• Image quality control. TVA enables TiP applications specialists to critique images in real time and troubleshoot quality issues with customers.

"Our ability to coach from afar is greatly improved with TVA," says Carder. "Applications specialists have been virtually assisting for years - without the benefit of seeing the screen. Now I can see exactly what my students are doing."

"In terms of quality, TVA was just like GE onsite
applications training, and scheduling was more
convenient for our staff."
- Tarri Spires-Wall, RT, Medical Center of Center Georgia

In fact, says Carder, TVA is superior to onsite training in a very practical respect. "Students don't have to look over my shoulder as I teach. With TVA they can sit in front of their console with a perfectly clear line of sight as I move the cursor remotely."

A critical selling point of TVA is the caliber of the trainers, according to Amy Broadie, TiP CT development manager. "When I talk to customers about e-training, one of the first questions they raise is whether we're going to stick them with a teletrainer who has never been in the field. That is not the case with TVA."

In fact, TVA trainers are the same applications specialists who conduct GE's onsite training. They receive specialized education in the virtual delivery of GE training courses. In addition, they must conduct at least 10 onsite training sessions with the equipment before they can qualify to teach it remotely.

Sessions are conducted by TVA-certified GE applications specialists. Specialists become TVA-certified through a combination of classroom sessions, remote observation, and communication practices.

"Our people roleplay various scenarios that arise during training, and we show them how to handle those situations remotely," said Broadie. "We sensitize them to interact with customers without the benefit of body language. Measuring comprehension without visual cues, for example, can be difficult. So we've added more practice exercises to the remote curriculum."

Peterson adds, "When you're onsite, you can look at somebody and know they're not getting it. With TVA, it's all in the voice. You hear a pause or, even worse, dead air. Then you know it's time to rephrase the content and ask more questions."

Prior to the session, the customer is e-mailed a curriculum that provides prerequisites for the trainees, a description of the course, measurable objectives, and a schedule. Afterwards, each participant completes an online skill inventory that provides a self-assessment of competency in key operations. This is a requisite for continuing education credits and enables the GE trainer to see what areas, if any, may need brushing up.

What do healthcare professionals lack? Time. What are they constantly looking for? More information to do their jobs better.

Those two realities came together in a recent TiP Virtual Assist session conducted for a mid-sized hospital in the northeast. The trainer was Jim Carder, team leader for GE's CT Applications in the eastern region.

The hospital had acquired an Advantage Workstation in late January and received onsite training. The two CT technologists wanted specific help in optimizing and standardizing studies of the carotids and the Circle of Willis.

Carder began by helping them set up an automatic protocol for rotational MIPs of the carotids. "When the tech clicked the button and started previewing the images he just created, I hear this scream of delight," says Carder. "'This is fantastic,' he says. 'You just saved us an entire day.' He had been struggling with the procedure for weeks and in 15 minutes had what he needed."

Next, Carder helped them build a protocol for serial batch reformatting of Circle of Willis images. "This is an infrequent study," says Carder, who has close to 30 years of experience in radiology as a technologist and now a trainer. "I had the good fortune of sitting with a neuroradiologist who showed me this 'best practice' protocol for reading Circle of Willis studies. With his permission, I've been teaching it ever since." Once the protocol was built, all the techs had to do was click the special icon that Carder created, line up the images, and then click "film" and "save" for each series.

"With this protocol, any technologist - new or highly skilled - can produce the images the doctor needs to make the diagnosis," says Carder.

The technologists estimate that building the protocol on their own would have taken at least five hours, says Carder, and that using the protocol will reduce the length of each serial reformatting from 15 minutes to about three minutes.

At the end of the 90-minute session, the technologists had one final question for Carder: When could they schedule another TVA session?

"We have lots of experienced customers who have specific questions. They don't need us there for the whole day," says Carder. "That's what makes TVA so ideal - it truly meets the customer's needs."

TVA is designed to provide customers with the highest level of protection for their patient data, according to Dellis.

Using a broadband connection on their laptop, a trainer must go through two highly secure Virtual Private Networks and an authentication server to access the customer's system. Only GE applications specialists who are HIPAA trained are authorized to access the customer network. Entrance to the system itself requires the customer to "accept" the trainer's log on by pushing a button on the screen. Without that acceptance, the trainer cannot enter the system.

"It's the ideal training medium to fine tune
post-processing skills and learn more advanced
protocols"
- Charies Dellis, RT, GE healthcare

Once on the system, certain functions are desensitized on the trainer's screen. "Our people cannot initiate gantry or table movement or initiate scans," says Dellis. "They also cannot download or save any data from the system. Those functions are blocked and appear as grayed-out buttons on the trainer's screen."

With regard to patient data, the GE applications specialists treat TVA sessions as they do onsite training - with the utmost respect for patient confidentiality. They always log onto the system in a private area and follow HIPAA guidelines in handling patient data, says Dellis.

At present, TVA is available on all of GE's Linux-based systems, including the Advantage Windows Workstation 4.1, the LightSpeed CT scanners, and the newest generation of Signa EXCITE MR systems.

According to Dellis, TVA typically will be utilized in follow-up sessions after initial onsite turnover of the system and to teach software packages. "It's the ideal training medium to fine tune post-processing skills and learn more advanced protocols," he says.

TVA also will be deployed on the TiP Answer Line in the near future, enabling online applications specialists to log onto customer systems to troubleshoot problems and provide assistance. "When a customer has to verbally describe a problem, it can easily take 20 minutes," says Dellis. "With TVA, we can log on and see what's happening immediately."

In addition to having a TVA-enabled system, the only other technical requirement is a high-speed broadband connection. "TVA has been on the drawing board at GE for about 10 years but the stumbling block was that you needed broadband to achieve the necessary data transmission speeds," says Dellis. "Now that broadband is widely available and competitively priced, TVA is ready to take off."

"Taking off" is how Jim Carder describes the program as well. "TVA is changing the way applications training is delivered, and we're only just beginning to realize what it can do for customers. The possibilities are virtually limitless."

TiP Virtual Assist

• Live, remote training

• Interactive and hands-on

• Flexible scheduling

• Enhanced knowledge retention

• Defined training curriculum

• Reduced training time

• Measurable results

• Continuing education credits

For more information about TiP
Virtual Assist, call (800) 682-5327.
Press "2," then "3."