Engage, Don’t Overwhelm: How to Make Your Healthcare Courses More Effective

Healthcare professionals face unique challenges when creating their online courses. You want your content to be accurate, comprehensive, and credible.

This is only natural.

However, this often leads to courses being crammed with technical details, clinical jargon, and overwhelming information.

More isn’t always better.

Overloading your learners can make your course less effective.

The key to success lies in achieving high levels of student engagement.

This post will explore how simplexity can help your learners understand, retain, and apply your material without feeling overwhelmed.

We’ve broken the post into the following sections:

1. The Detail Trap: Why Too Much Information Backfires
2. Prioritise Key Concepts
3. Use Plain Language and Real-World Examples
4. Break Content into Manageable Sections
5. Incorporate Visuals to Simplify Concepts
6. Encourage Interaction and Active Learning
7. Test and Iterate Based on Feedback

So let’s get started…

1. The Detail Trap: Why Too Much Information Backfires

Most of the healthcare professionals we have spoken to who have contacted us about creating an online course believe that including extensive details will establish their credibility. That makes sense. Accuracy is essential, but too much information can disengage learners. Studies have shown that when people encounter information overload, they either shut down or retain little.

For instance, a study highlighted that presenting too much information at once can result in cognitive overload, making it unlikely to retain the information.

Another comprehensive review found that information overload negatively impacts learning efficiency and productivity, decreasing learner comprehension.

This highlights the need to manage learners' information to improve their understanding and learning success.

In the following scenario, I share an example a Nutritionist gave as she prepared her course outline for patients newly diagnosed with diabetes.

Scenario: Overwhelming Diabetes Management Course for Patients

The Nutritionist had designed a course to help patients understand how to manage their diabetes. In the first module alone, the course was proposing to cover the following:

• The medical definition of diabetes includes complex biochemical processes like insulin resistance and glucose metabolism.
• Detailed explanations of all types of diabetes (Type 1, Type 2, gestational, and others).
• An extensive list of, medical terms, such as HbA1c, dex, and beta-cell function, are provided, but they are rarely explained in simple terms.
• Long lectures on the history of diabetes research and recent scientific breakthroughs.
• A comprehensive guide to all available medications, including names, mechanisms of action, and potential side effects for each drug.

Ouch!

While comprehensive, this is overwhelming for a newly diagnosed patient. They are already dealing with the emotional impact of their diagnosis and need clear, practical guidance.

Instead, if the course had been created with this design in designedtudents will have been bombarded witwouldmplex information that feels impossible to process.would have been

As a result, they most likely would have disengaged and felt would most likelyking they couldn’t manage their condition effectively.couldn’t

How We Simplified Things:

1. Focused on key concepts: Started with essential steps, such as how to monitor blood sugar levels, recognise symptoms, and make simple dietary adjustments.
2. Used plain language: Explain "HbA1c" as "a test that shows your average blood sugar over time."
3. Broke it down: Delivered one actionable lesson at a time, such as a short module on managing mealtime choices.
4. Provided visuals: Used diagrams to show how insulin affects blood sugar and how lifestyle changes can help.

Adopting such an approach empowers patients rather than overwhelming them, improving their confidence and engagement in managing their condition.

The risk is that if you provide too much detail, learners may feel lost in a sea of it, missing the key steps that truly matter.

Instead of gaining mastery, they walk away with confusion and frustration.

So, your goal should be to provide just enough detail to support understanding and build confidence.

2. Prioritise Key Concepts

Next, think about how doctors prioritise symptoms during diagnosis. They don’t need to investigate every possible condition immediately. Similarly, when teaching, you need to identify the key learning outcomes and focus on those first.

It’s about standing in the customer’s shoes and asking yourself a few key questions:

• What are the most critical takeaways for your learners?
• What do they need to know to apply their learning effectively?

A simple and practical way to do this is to separate content into "need-to-know" versus "nice-to-know" categories.

Focus your core lessons on the essentials and provide additional resources for those who want to explore more in-depth material or offer that extra content in a further course.

3. Use Plain Language and Real-World Examples

This next point is hugely important.

Healthcare professionals, like many experts in technical fields, often have a default setting when using expert language or jargon.

The problem is that this can be intimidating or confusing to learners, especially those in non-specialist roles.

So, use plain language to improve clarity and help your students absorb your material more quickly.

As a patient yourself, you wouldn’t like it if your doctor explained a treatment plan to you by reciting medical textbook definitions.

Instead, you’d want them to simplify the information while being accurate.

The same principle applies to your courses.

Real-world scenarios and case studies are also invaluable.

Imagine, for example, you are a Forudents about infection control policies; instead of delivering pure theory about the policies, describe a real-life scenario where improper protocol led to an outbreak.

This brings the material to life and makes it easier to understand.

4. Break Content into Manageable Sections

Information overload is a common cause of disengagement. Learners can only process learners at a time, so breaking your content in it is essential to break manageable chunks is essential.

Consider structuring your course into short modules, each focusing on a single concept. Add pauses for reflection, knowledge checks, or practical activities. This keeps learners engaged and will keep them retain information for a long time.

For example, instead of one long lecture on advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), you might create separate modules for airway management, defibrillation protocols, and medication administration, each with interactive elements.

5. Incorporate Visuals to Simplify Concepts

Visual aids are a powerful tool for simplifying complex information. Diagrams, flowcharts, and animations can explain concepts more effectively than text alone.

For instance, a step-by-step visual guide on inserting a catheter is more intuitive than a long block of text describing each step. Learners can see the process unfold and visualise themselves performing the task. While this might seem noticeable, it might be amazing how many opportunities there are in any given training course to communicate points visually.

When designing your course, ask yourself: Can this concept be conveyed visually? If so, invest time in creating diagrams, infographics, or video demonstrations.

6. Encourage Interaction and Active Learning

Learners are more engaged when interacting with the material and fellow students.

Passive learning (such as watching long lectures) often leads to lower retention rates, while active learning motivates participants.

Incorporate interactive elements into your course, such as:

• Scenario-based learning is where learners make decisions in simulated situations.
• Quizzes that reinforce key concepts.
• Group discussions or peer reviews (if using a live or community-based course format).

For example, a course on medication administration might include a virtual scenario where learners decide which drug to administer based on a patient’s symptoms.

7. Test and Iterate Based on Feedback

Your first version of a course may not be perfect, and that’s okay. What matters is being responsive to learner feedback and iterating accordingly.

Encouraging learners to provide feedback on your course's content and structure is essential. Post-course surveys, interviews, or focus groups can help you understand what’s working and what’s not.

For instance, if learners consistently report that a particular module is too complex or unclear, you can revise it to improve engagement and understanding.

Final Thoughts

Creating practical healthcare courses is about more than just involving more thanks. You can make your courses engaging and educational by focusing on key concepts, using plain language, incorporating visuals, and fostering interaction.

Remember, your goal is to empower learners with the confidence and knowledge to apply what they’ve learned.

Sometimes, less really is more.

Contact us here if you’d like to discuss improving your course design further. We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences creating healthcare education content!