After seeing participant-centered training methods in action, staff at the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute wanted to re-work their "Transforming Diabetes Care" training program which they deliver to front-line practitioners in an effort to help them change how they treat patients.

 They brought in The Bob Pike Group to observe their pilot of the modified Transforming Diabetes Care program. "This was the first time participant-centered training had been used [at JJDI]. It was kind of a turnabout for us," said Dr. David Horwitz of JJDI. "We put together our own curriculum, then The Bob Pike Group came in and tore it all apart, and we started all over. We were kind of used to a traditional teacher-centered education. Now it's more participant activities, more active learning by participants, getting away from lectures. Everything that used to be lecture is now group discussion or quiz or role-playing activity."

 As for evaluation metrics, "we just came back from an annual meeting of diabetes educators. Person after person came up and said, 'This is the best program we've ever been to.' They dragged friends and said, 'You've got to come to this.' We had 515 people sign up to participate. That's not one of the metrics we set out to gather, but one of the strongest," Horwitz said. The institute also does a follow-up survey at three and six months. "We're getting good indication that people have changed behavior," Horwitz said.

 "We've had relatively new faculty, but when we do, they observe the class, and we walk them through the flow. We give them a few rules like you can't talk more than 8 minutes before involving participants," Horwitz said. "Our faculty has been very dedicated and stuck with us."

 If you would like information on having The Bob Pike Group help customize your training content and make it more participant-centered, call us at 1-800-383-9210.

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