The American Diabetes Association Empowers Medical Professionals with Articulate 360

The Challenge

The ADA needed training to keep global medical professionals up-to-date with cutting-edge diabetes care and prevention

To tackle the most critical challenges in diabetes care and prevention, the ADA focuses on medical education for a varied care team members. The audience includes physicians, nurses, social workers, nurses, dietitians, endocrinologists, who each require training specific to their roles.  

The ADA leverages online learning to scale its training and quickly update a global audience on the latest guidance.

“The most important category of training that we create has to do with our standards of care,” says Chelsea Bohnstedt, Associate Director of Professional Education. Each year, the organization releases guidance crucial to its mission on the latest best practices, which it distributes to physicians and members of the diabetes care team. With Articulate 360, the team transforms that guidance into actionable courses that medical professionals can incorporate into their practice immediately.

The Answer

With Articulate 360, the ADA creates immersive, realistic courses that prepare medical professionals for complex patient interactions

The ADA uses Rise and Storyline to create online training. Articulate’s interactivity, says Bohnstedt, is especially crucial in the medical field, where free time is a very limited resource. It allows the team to capture its audience’s attention more effectively, leading to better outcomes for learners.  

Bohnstedt creates real-world scenarios that offer medical professionals a chance to try patient interactions risk-free. “That’s usually the biggest unpredictable element—how the patient is going to respond to the care that you’re suggesting,” she says. Allowing learners to practice these types of daily interactions online offers a safe space for them to make mistakes, rehearse, and prepare for day-to-day interactions with patients. 

A social worker by trade, Bohnstedt also oversees the ADA’s mental health initiatives—a major component of diabetes management. “It’s something that doesn’t get talked about very much,” says Bohnstedt—but it’s crucial for improving the lives of those impacted by diabetes. With Articulate 360, Bohnsted has designed a mental health management course, complete with complex case studies that mirror interactions with patients with diabetes.

This, says Bohnstedt, has allowed team members to learn experientially rather than reading a paper or flipping through slides on the topic. “It’s a more immersive experience, and helps bring mental health to the forefront of diabetes care,” she says.

Bohnstedt appreciates Articulate’s E-Learning Heroes community as a place to swap creative solutions and training best practices. “I really appreciate that there’s such an active community,” she says, noting that upskilling there has been particularly useful for key organizational priorities, like making courses fully accessible.

For internal collaboration, the team relies on Review, which helps them ensure all materials meet key clinical standards. “We go through a pretty extensive review process, and Review makes that a lot easier,” says Bohnstedt.

Unlocking Human Potential

The ADA empowers a global network of medical professionals with Articulate courses

The ADA consistently receives positive feedback about its courses’ interactivity and inclusion of realistic case studies. Learners “are hungry for opportunities to practice,” says Bohnstedt, “so having that unique opportunity to build confidence in their skills, to learn something new, is really valuable to them.” 

E-learning, says Bohnstedt, is a substantial part of the ADA’s purpose. A key example of this is its continuing medical education library, a library of free resources for providers. Offering the library via Articulate allows the team to scale its training quickly and disseminate it to global audiences, ensuring diabetes care team members around the world have the latest guidance.

“If Articulate wasn’t part of my day-to-day, I think I would cry,” says Bohnstedt, noting that the platform has been helpful for her team of designers with varying experience levels. “It’s a very accessible, modern format that our learners respond really well to.”

With Articulate, the American Diabetes Association creates immersive training on diabetes care for a global audience of medical professionals.