OSF HealthCare is strengthening its medical assistant workforce with an immersive trainee program that hires participants first, then trains them through a combination of classroom learning, simulations and hands-on clinic experience.

Leaders say the program was designed to prepare medical assistants for the realities of patient care while easing staffing pressures across OSF Medical Group clinics. Leaders are looking for candidates with a good mix of soft and clinical skills.

“It’s very important that medical assistants have empathy and emotional intelligence,” says Amanda Lambie, director of Clinical Education and Professional Development at OSF HealthCare. “They’re caring for patients day to day. Clinics can be busy, patients have different needs, and sometimes you unexpectedly have to set up for a procedure. We need them to be flexible and adaptable and ready to take care of the patient, whatever it is that they need.”

Classroom work comes first

Trainees are hired into a medical assistant trainee role and begin their education in a classroom and skills lab before rotating through clinics with certified medical office assistant preceptors. They also participate in simulations with standardized participants who are trained actors and complete certification coursework through the partnership OSF has with Guild.

For one trainee, 19-year-old Sandy Jones of Lacon, Illinois, the program felt like the natural next step in a long-standing desire to care for others.

“So basically, when I was 16, I was actually a CNA because I saw my grandma in the nursing home,” Jones shares. “I just loved the residents and the way that you got to take care of them and make a smile on their face.”

She was one of nine trainees selected from nearly 100 applicants for the Medical Assistant (MA) Trainee program, confirming for Jones that she was meant to answer the call to help others.

Trainees rotate among clinics

The program places trainees in clinics across Central Illinois, including Peoria, Morton and Washington, exposing them to primary care and in Jones’ case, pediatric care as well. Trainees focus on mastering clinical skills and Lambie emphasizes it stresses professionalism and patient safety.

“Our certified medical assistants administer medications and give injections. A lot of these skills could introduce risk if they weren’t serious and professional and diligent in making sure they were following all of the appropriate procedures.”

The cost of all training, coursework and certification exams is fully covered by OSF. While the national certification process is rigorous, leaders say support continues until every trainee succeeds.

Three of the nine trainees needed to retake the certification exam, but everyone was able to achieve their goal.

Jones was among those who needed to take the test a second time, but she says educators worked to find creative ways, including gaming, to help her grasp the material.

Games helped reinforce material

“We also did some Jeopardy games, which really helped. I love being competitive, so when you bring a game into it and it’s not so serious, you start really learning it and it really helped me.”

Every MA trainee has transitioned into a certified medical assistant position. Most medical assistant programs last 28 weeks, but the employer-based training with OSF Medical Group created an accelerated pathway with nine weeks of training for most.

Jones points out that for the trainee, the pace was demanding but rewarding.

As a hands-on learner, simulations stood out to her as the most valuable part of training. The simulation allowed her to practice the rooming process with trained actors.

“They came in for a cough and fever, and we literally went through the exact rooming process I’m doing now. And for a baby, we would have to get their length and head circumference and do a whole well-child (exam). It was amazing,” Jones recalls.

She now works in pediatrics, a setting she says allows her to connect quickly with patients and families and she enjoys making kids smile. Jones often rewards them with stickers after a successful visit to the OSF Center for Health in Morton.

Nurses spend more time on direct care

Lambie says the program also significantly reduced onboarding time for clinics.

Managers in OSF Medical Group offices reported that they were cutting onboarding time down by about half. Lambie stresses filling medical office assistant positions quickly helps care teams perform efficiently.

“Which permits our nurses to stop doing the task and responsibilities which a CMA is capable of doing and enjoys doing and allows nurses to really work at their top of scope and top of licensure.”

With strong feedback from medical group leadership, OSF plans to expand the program in small cohorts to other regions.

For Jones, the experience has already shaped her future plans. She plans on starting nursing school in the fall. She’s always wanted to be a pediatric nurse and follow in her grandmother’s footsteps with a career in nursing.

Her advice for others considering the program is simple. Go for it.

“This is a very good opportunity for you to step into the medical field and take it very seriously because it’s a real job and at the end of the day you’re going to love it.”

Here is an option to learn about the next round of applications for the medical assistant trainee program.

Sandy Jones

Amanda Lambie

B-roll-Medical Office Assistant Trainee 

A new hands-on tool is helping young patients feel more prepared – and less afraid – before undergoing an MRI.

MRIs can be especially intimidating for children, who must lie still in a tight space surrounded by loud, unfamiliar sounds. Until now, child life specialists, like Allison West, at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria relied on educational materials to prepare patients. But West says many young children are hands-on learners.

“They need to be able to see, touch and manipulate. We had prep books and pictures and sounds that we would play for them, but we were missing something concrete,” says Child Life Specialist Allison West. “So, this was a huge need that Savannah was able to deliver for us.”

West is referencing former Tremont, Illinois, high school student Savannah Jost of Mapleton, whose interest in health care grew after her own serious cancer diagnosis.

Inspired by a cancer journey

In January of 2022, Jost was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. She went through eight rounds of chemo and 17 radiation treatments before doctors at OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois declared her cancer free in December of 2022.

Jost then joined OSF HealthCare through a high school co-op program, where she helped design a simulated MRI with engineers from Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center. The idea was to help children role-play the experience using stuffed animals or dolls.

Sister M. Pieta Keller, F.S.G.M., an engineer with OSF Innovation Studio, part of the OSF Innovation ecosystem, explains there is a toy MRI available on the market, but it was prohibitively expensive. Instead, she and other engineers speculated that they could create something to simulate the medical imaging experience for kids, using their favorite toy as child life suggested.

“That could kind of show the child what happens and could we do it with a stuffed animal or doll or something that’s theirs – their object that’s special to them that could go through this, and they could see that everything was just fine and what would happen in that experience.”

Creating the MRI model for kids meant balancing realism with durability for young users Sister M. Pieta explains while discussing the creative process.

Design challenges

“As Savannah came to me with plans and ideas of what she wanted to do, we kind of went back through it. We let her do a first prototype of what she was thinking but then I was like we actually need to rebuild it and rebuild the inside so that it can withstand a small child climbing on top of it because,” Sister Pieta points out, “It is big enough to be a little gymnasium as well, so we wanted it to have that strength and robustness.”

West says children often have to have multiple imaging tests throughout their treatment and most of them have to be sedated. But the goal is to avoid having to put young children under anesthesia repeatedly.

“We think with additional education and preparation, that they (kids) would be able to do it successfully without that sedation,” West shares. “So, then we start prepping them. That’s where this beautiful machine comes in because we can use this to make them comfortable, to reduce that fear and really to prepare them for what to expect and kind of set them up for more success.”

The design and build process introduced Jost to the process of innovation. The biggest lesson she learned from engineers at Jump – you will most likely fail before you’re successful.

Lifelong lessons from engineers at Jump Simulation

“When I came in, they just answered all of my questions. They would help me, but they also let me try and fail and they would be like, ‘How would you do this?’ and I would go and do it and most likely fail and then they let me ask them and pick their brains about it. I just loved working with them.”

One of the biggest goals was to make the mini-MRI simulator as realistic as possible. From her own experience, Jost wanted to make sure there was no sugarcoating the experience. Combined with audio from a real MRI that can be played from a tablet, Jost thinks the team hit the mark.

The project represents more than just a design success. Jost stresses that it’s a way for her to pay it forward.

“It’s knowing that I get to give back to the community that helped me, that saved my life when I was 14 years old … just knowing that little kids here are using it and that I have the same cancer journey as some of them – It makes my 14-year-old self proud.” Jost is now a student at Bradley University, an OSF academic partner under its Innovation Academic Incubator. She eventually hopes to become a radiation oncologist.

Meanwhile, West says the simulated MRI has been used with a few patients and will be used with more in the future to help reduce fear, improve understanding and prepare children for real imaging exams – one stuffed animal at a time.

Savannah Jost

Sister Pieta 

Allison West

B-roll-Toy MRI

Health care providers with OSF HealthCare are training for rare but high-risk childbirth emergencies inside a mobile OSF OnCall pregnancy and postpartum van, using a new high-tech birthing simulator designed to replicate real-life labor and delivery situations.

Advanced practice providers (APPs) staff the mobile OB unit which serves a dozen communities in Illinois considered maternity care deserts, meaning the county has no hospitals providing obstetric care, no birth centers, no OB/GYN and no certified nurse midwives. Recently completed hands-on simulation training is helping prepare the OB/GYN APPs for unexpected deliveries and complications that could occur while caring for patients on the road. Although delivering a baby inside the van is unlikely, leaders say readiness is critical.

Amy Mefford, an advanced practice registered nurse with OSF OnCall, says the training focuses on managing both routine and emergency situations.

“What can happen, how do we manage this and be able to comprehend and evaluate and take care of this situation in real life. And sims training (with Victoria) has just been amazing for us,” Mefford shares.

Focusing on hemorrhage

One of the most important scenarios providers practice is postpartum hemorrhage – a leading cause of maternal complications.

“I think doing the hemorrhage sims repetitively on a regular basis is extremely helpful for our team. It’s not something we hope we see on this van, but when we do, we want to feel confident, know the steps on managing hemorrhage,” Mefford stresses. “We have what we need on the van to manage those scenarios and to get the EMS team to us as soon as possible.”

The training relies on a lifelike manikin named Victoria, a high-fidelity instrument of sorts who simulates a full range of obstetrical events to facilitate teamwork and deepen critical thinking skills.  Jake Wilson, who oversees simulation training at Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center at OSF HealthCare in Peoria, says Victoria can simulate a variety of birthing emergencies.

“We can do normal vaginal deliveries. We can do C-sections. She has an ultrasound belly. She has a maternal hemorrhage feature. She even has a belly that can simulate a baby being the wrong direction and they can manipulate the baby to turn it around. She has a ton of features that have been a big help to us,” Wilson shares.

Lifelike simulation of birthing experience

Victoria talks, blinks, breathes and responds to questions. The enhanced manikin from previous models used at OSF includes new interactive eyes with automatic visual object tracking and lifelike movements. She also has a fully programmable airway to control breathing and circulation physiological parameters so she can become flushed or sweat.

During the recent simulation, from a tablet, Wilson changes conditions in real time and allows teams to practice decision-making under pressure. Wilson says the technology represents a major advancement. The manikin is fully wireless and mobile, allowing training to take place not only in simulation labs, but also inside mobile units such as the OSF OnCall pregnancy and postpartum van. It is part of regular, required training according to Wilson.

“We have regular Family Birthing Center simulations for the nurses and doctors across the street here at OSF Saint Francis who come through and practice maternal hemorrhage simulations. They do maternal hypertension simulations, and that is an annual simulation that they are required to do.”

Because Victoria is mobile, she can also be transported to other hospitals within the OSF Ministry to be used for on-site training. Practicing common emergencies such as hemorrhage, breech or C-section in a realistic environment, Wilson says, helps teams react more quickly and effectively when seconds matter.

OSF leaders say Victoria’s realistic features and functions, combined with ongoing education and collaboration, help strengthen maternal care and should improve outcomes across the region. The simulations with Victoria are part of a comprehensive OSF strategy to improve maternal-fetal health and birthing outcomes.

Here are other stories featuring additional approaches:

OSF HealthCare offers another layer of monitoring for moms and babies

OSF OnCall to offer enhanced obstetric care in the I-80 region

24-7 connection through OSF OnCall empowers patients and improves outcomes

Virtual breastfeeding support available through OSF OnCall

Video clips with Amy Mefford

Video Clips with Jake Wilson

B-roll-Victoria birthing manikin training

Dr. Edward M. Barksdale Jr., MD, professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and chief surgical officer for the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance, delivered the keynote address for the Pearl Lecture Series at the Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center in Peoria, Illinois. His talk, “Beyond the Walls: The Unseen Power of Simulation for Social Innovation,” explored how medical simulation can drive not only clinical excellence, but also social transformation.

Dr. Barksdale was also named this week as one of the four icons of the American College of surgeons.

Often clinicians get so infatuated with fancy medical devices or new innovations such as AI, Dr. Barksdale says, they miss the importance of human connection. He says medical simulation, which uses specially trained actors with real life experiences to simulate health care situations, is where health practitioners “can rehearse for humanity.”

“How can it help us be more human? How can it help us be more compassionate and empathic. So much of the work I do in Cleveland where I was, and now in Chicago is to look at how we can take technology to allow physicians to lead more with their hearts than their heads.”

Barksdale, who trained as a surgeon more than four decades ago, reflected on how simulation has evolved from a technical training tool into a platform for team-based learning, system improvement, and now, human-centered design. Human-centered design involves understanding users through empathy, brainstorming ideas, and iteratively prototyping and testing solutions to create products, services, and systems that are useful, desirable, and effective.

The Jump Center in Peoria, Dr. Barksdale points out, is a national leader in advancing simulation from skill-building to innovation. He says the best simulations involve diverse participants from the community being served and that’s what he’s seeing at the Jump Center.

“What an environment like this offers is that child, that adult to say, ‘Dr. Barksdale the way you speak to me or the words that you use are not things that I understand. Can you break that down, can you give me a tangible example?’”

Barksdale said one of the most important frontiers for simulation is applying innovation to social determinants of health such as food insecurity and homelessness, and considering trauma-based care, inequity, and violence.

Dr. Barksdale has worked on nationally recognized programs that have led to less gun violence in Cleveland.

The keynote speech also honored Dr. Richard Pearl, a longtime pediatric surgeon and leader at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois and the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. Pearl, Barksdale says, was both a friend of 35 years and a visionary in creating a simulation-based culture of learning and compassion.

“There are things that people envision when they come to a place that have a life and legacy long after they leave and the work that he did to establish this incredible center is phenomenal.”

Barksdale hopes his message will inspire health professionals and community leaders alike to see simulation as a tool not just for perfecting technique, but for strengthening civic engagement and empathy.

Dr. Edward Barksdale

B-roll-Pearl Lecture-Dr. Edward Barksdale and simulation