The BridgeBlog

Okay, so this is my last blog post on the book Brain Rules by John Medina. There is a lot in there and I can’t give you a summary of all the good stuff. Maybe I’ve intrigued you through these snip-its of information that you will read it yourself! Regardless, let’s wrap up this book and look at another “Brain Rule”.  In my last post I shared the “Repeat to Remember” rule. Here is another rule that intrigues me, it is related to our long term memory, “Brain Rule #6: Remember to Repeat.” I am going to keep this one short and sweet – probably because I am on holiday sugar overload! But, this is my take away from this specific rule.

Repeated exposure to information at timed intervals provides the most powerful way to fix memory into the brain. Okay, nothing earth shattering there…sounds like common sense. But, there is some neat science behind it that helps understand why this occurs. As  information is introduced into our brains, electrical representations of the information are built up slowly over many repetitions, and continuous repetitive cycles layer on similar information and adds to your knowledge base. And the more elaborate the re-exposure of the information is, in spaced intervals, it will increase the chances of the information becoming a long-term memory.

In a nutshell, learning occurs best when we incrementally introduce information over time, rather than jam it all in at once. Food for thought as you consider learning activities that you may be creating as an educator or participating in as a student. Not everyone gets it the first time, so remember to repeat!

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, I am back to blogging after an extended absence – sorry for that hiatus! I am returning to a great book I’ve been reading this past year, Brain Rules by John Medina. In my last post I shared the “every brain is wired differently” rule. Here is another rule that intrigues me, it is related to short term memory, “Brain Rule #5: Repeat to Remember.”

Hermann Ebbinghaus, born in 1850, is most famous for determining that people usually forget 90% of what they learn in a class within 30 days. Rather depressing to think about! In addition, his studies also showed that a majority is forgotten within the first few hours after the classroom experience. Over a 30-year period Ebbinghaus discovered additional interesting facts. One is that memories have different life spans – some may be minutes, while others last a lifetime. Is that why I can put my keys down and forget where they are within 5 minutes?

Here’s where Brain Rule #5 comes into play – Ebbinghaus shared with us that we can actually increase the life span of a memory by repeating the information in timed intervals. So, what can learn from this? Spaced learning is better than massed learning. Good to know.

But, we still need to understand a bit more about our memory and how we can increase our chances of learning something versus just simply recalling it later. Medina provides a great example of this in his book. Try and remember your Social Security number. Easy, right? Your brain may have visually queued in on the last time you saw the card or when you wrote it down. Now try to remember how to ride a bike. That’s easy too, right? Not really – you don’t call up a list of each action step, such as where to put your foot, how to angle your back, where your thumb needs to be placed. You recall these memories differently.

Through research, four sequential steps have been identified for the life cycle of declarative memory – your conscious memory: encoding, storing, retrieving, and forgetting. This is not the time or place to go into the detail that Medina provides, but rather let me just summarize the main concepts.

As information comes into your brain it’s stored in different regions, it’s not a one stop shop for all those thoughts. The more elaborate we encode the information that’s coming in, the better the chance our brain has of finding the information in the future. Making something more elaborate often means making it more complicated, which can tax the memory system. This can improve learning: more complexity means greater learning. Finally, another way to improve your memory of information is to reproduce the environment where it first entered your brain.

Summary: information is remembered best when it’s elaborate, meaningful and contextual.

Ways that you can capitalize on this concept:

1)    Incorporate real-world examples as learning points to help “encode” the information.

2)    A compelling introduction to a learning activity can help the learner “retrieve” the information from memory in the future.

3)    Offer learning activities in an environment that is similar to where / when the information may need to be “retrieved” from memory in the future.

Next time, let’s talk about long-term memory and “Brain Rule #6: Remember to Repeat.”

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By Lorraine Schnelle, CPA

Whether you have responsibility to set the direction for the revenue cycle staff development program or have the day-to-day responsibility for educating new hire and existing staff – understanding and utilizing the learning pyramid, from the National Training Laboratories, can improve individual skill development and retention. The learning pyramid provides information on the average learning retention rates based on the delivery method.

Each time you create a teachable moment, whether it’s in a staff meeting, a memo or in classroom, consider integrating a variety of learning methods and activities to improve understanding and retention of the material.  Here are a few examples:

New Insurance Card: In addition to explaining the details of a new card at a staff meeting that’s been issued by a local employer, hand out a copy of the card to each team member. Include a print of the ADT screen and ask everyone to read the card and fill in the information on the ADT screen. Review the correctly completed ADT screen. Then, ask if there are any questions. Staff time: 5 minutes.

Medicare Secondary Payer: MSP is a complex and “high” risk process in the revenue cycle. It is imperative that your front-line team members are competent in determining MSP. Again, integrating a variety of learning methods and activities, including refreshers, into your training program will boost retention. Consider the following activities throughout the year. Each of these activities take about 5 to 10 minutes.

• Complicated MSP case demonstration at each staff meeting.
• Open discussion  at each staff meeting on MSP issues and challenges.
• MSP case study handout that is emailed to every staff member, on a quarterly basis, and must be completed and turned in. Staff time: 5 minutes + reviewer time variable (use as education documentation).
• Request every team member make an appointment with a reviewer on an annual basis and demonstrate how s/he interviews the patient and completes the MSP questionnaire.

Depending on the complexity and importance of the information, having a variety of educational opportunities available for your team members is key. This not only improves retention but also addresses different learning styles.

Happy training everyone and good luck!