Nursing Care x e-Learning｜Combining Benesse's expertise in nursing care. Staying close to staffing shortages and training issues.

CARE HINT" was born out of issues in the nursing care field.

Can you describe your company's business and your roles?

Mr. Uehara:We operate more than 350 fee-based nursing homes nationwide and have several businesses in the welfare sector, mainly in the nursing care business. As the business manager of "care hint," I am involved in overall supervision and content creation.

Mr. Yoshino:As the leader of Customer Success, I am in charge of customer service, as well as customer attraction and systems around the company.

What was the background behind the launch of "care hint," the e-learning service for nursing care providers that your company plans and operates?

Mr. Uehara:The direct impetus for this project came from winning the grand prize in a business contest within the Benesse Group. Our desire to develop such a service was based on issues in the nursing care industry that we had long felt.

In the course of my involvement in the recruitment of caregivers and human resource business, I have seen many times the negative loop of inadequate training due to lack of manpower, and as a result, people do not stay. I wanted to do something about the situation where people who have come into the nursing care industry do not get the opportunity to learn enough, and end up leaving without understanding the joys of nursing care.

The starting point for the launch of "care hint" was the thought that these issues could be solved as a business.

What do you consider to be the "joy of caregiving"?

Mr. Uehara:We believe that the joy of caregiving is being in touch with each person's life, background, and feelings, and being able to accompany them. We believe that the joy of caregiving is being able to touch each person's life, background, and thoughts, and to accompany them along the way.

Nursing care is not a job of performing predetermined tasks, but a highly specialized job that requires thinking about how the person "wants to live" and providing appropriate support while taking their wishes into account.

The process of supporting a person's unique life in cooperation with the person, his/her family, and various professions is both challenging and profound as a professional.

We decided on learningBOX because we felt it was a partner that would accompany us.

Why did you choose the e-learning system method?

Mr. Uehara:In nursing homes, services are operated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and in home visiting services, there are a certain number of employees who go directly to work and return home. Therefore, it is very difficult for staff to meet together for training. Some service providers hold training sessions with the same content over and over again for staff members who were unable to attend.

Considering this way of working, we thought that e-learning would be a good way to advance learning anytime, anywhere.

Could you tell us how you came to know about learningBOX and what kind of requirements you were looking for in a system?

Mr. Uehara:The reason I found out about it was through a referral from a group company, and an important condition was that I did not have to enter my e-mail address when registering for ID.

Many staff members in the nursing care field do not have personal e-mail addresses, and in many cases, the acquisition and management of the e-mail address itself is a hurdle to introducing the system.

Also, since the main users are in their 40s and 50s, it was important that even those who are not accustomed to device operation be able to view videos without stress.

What were the deciding factors for the introduction of learningBOX?

Mr. Uehara:The speed with which the person in charge understood our business and his ability to make precise proposals were the main deciding factors. As this was a new business, we still had not fully organized our operational image and functional requirements in some areas. However, they listened to us carefully, sorted out the issues together, and made concrete proposals such as "this kind of operation would be good," which made us feel that we could entrust the project to them with peace of mind.

Excellent system for quick support response and flexibility in feature development.

What was the most difficult part of the process between the system study, the introduction of learningBOX, and the start of operation?

Mr. Yoshino:After deciding to implement the system, there were no major systemic stumbling blocks. Since this was a new business, we spent a lot of time designing the service and organizing the many functions of the LearningBOX, while keeping in mind the image of how it would be used by customers.

In particular, we wanted to avoid making nursing care providers feel that they might not be able to use the system themselves when they were considering its introduction.

What aspects of learningBOX do you find most convenient?

Mr. Uehara:The most important thing is that it is multifunctional. As a new business, we are in a phase where we need to respond to customer requests with a sense of urgency, and I think it is wonderful that all the necessary functions are available.

What has been your experience with learningBOX’s customer support?

Mr. Yoshino:The addition of IDs has been handled on the same day or the next day, allowing us to operate without waste. We also receive immediate answers to any questions we have, which is very helpful.

Even when you want to adjust the functionality, there is no need to develop the software in-house because it is SaaS (software-as-a-service), which allows you to use the software via the Internet. We can discuss whether we can develop the software after communicating our intentions and requests (N1 development). That flexibility is reassuring.

“Easy to understand and short. Content design that prioritizes being used in the field

Please tell us about the features of "care hint" and what makes its content special.

Mr. Uehara:We are very particular about our scenarios. We have been involved in the nursing care business for about 30 years, so we have incorporated a lot of know-how and actual examples. Another important point is to keep it short and easy to understand.

Mr. Yoshino:What we have made a conscious effort to do is to lower the viewing hurdle anyway. The basic length is 2 to 3 minutes. We believe that the most important thing is to get people to play the video first.

Mr. Uehara:In the video recording of nursing care techniques, six cameras are used to capture the hand, body movements, feet, and even weight shifts without any blind spots. The use of animations and other innovations make the videos enjoyable to watch.

Please tell us about the content that received a great response.

Mr. Uehara:As expected, our legal training videos, which are by far the most in-demand, have been well received for their ease of understanding. The fact that our content is based on our own case studies is another key point that makes it easy for our clients to empathize with us.

In addition, videos that prepare students for the national caregiver and care manager examinations are also popular.

We want to be there to give you tips when you are unsure about your care.

Please tell us about your thoughts behind the naming of "care hint".

Mr. Uehara:We believe that the best support for care will vary depending on the person's physical and mental condition and the wishes of the family. That is why we chose this name, because we want to be able to give hints to people when they are not sure about their care, rather than just saying, "This is the right thing to do.

Can you tell us more about the character "Hinti"?

Mr. Uehara:Hinty“ is based on the motif of a squirrel. The squirrel has the image of ”the hardest worker in the forest," and we aimed to create a friendly and easily accepted presence.

What kind of feedback have you received from those who have actually taken the "care hint" content?

Mr. Yoshino:Many students have commented that the videos are easy to understand, even in a short time, and that they are easy to watch due to the large number of illustrations. Some of the videos are structured in such a way that learners are asked to think, and this prevents the content from being one-sided.

Mr. Uehara:Surprisingly, we have not received any questions from learners about how to use the system. We have received some questions from administrators, but the learners have found it "intuitive and easy to understand" and "easy to search," and we think we made the right decision in choosing the simple UI of learningBOX.

The Potential of "Nursing Care x e-Learning" Seen through its Introduction

What benefits have you gained from the introduction of the learningBOX?

Mr. Uehara:We feel that "care hint" has contributed to improving the efficiency of the training operations of the care providers who have introduced it.

The introduction of "care hint" has been a great help in eliminating the need to create training materials and to think about how to conduct each training session. The system has also been well received by our clients because it allows them to submit reports online and visualize their attendance history, so they can see at a glance whether they are receiving the training properly.

Have there been any other changes since adopting learningBOX?

Mr. Uehara:One of the comments we received from an actual on-site worker said, "I am 50 years old and there are many young staff members at my workplace. I felt uneasy because I could not make my busy senior staff work overtime while they were not accustomed to the work. If it weren't for 'care hint,' I would have been crushed by anxiety.

Mr. Yoshino:Its use is also expanding in recruitment and training situations. When we have new graduates and mid-career hires view some of the "care hint" videos as training content during their interviews, we often receive positive responses, especially from inexperienced candidates.

We have also heard that in some cases, a senior manager suggests to each staff member in a 1-on-1 session, "Watch this video.

It is now being used as part of benefits and human resource development. In some cases, "care hint" is being used in conjunction with the personnel system, creating a positive change.

Have you noticed anything new through the introduction of learningBOX?

Mr. Uehara:To be honest, there was some concern that caregiving technology and e-learning might not be a good match. Now that we have actually used it, we feel that it is a very good match.

If we can understand not only the method but also the background of "why we do it," we can apply it.

Mr. Yoshino:I think it makes sense to be able to watch the course over and over again, since it is impossible to memorize everything just by watching it once.

Enhancing contents and functions to make the service more popular.

What are your broader goals for the future?

Mr. Uehara:While continuing to expand the content, we intend to enhance the functionality of the site in response to customer feedback. In particular, we have received many requests for multilingual support, and we plan to add content in English, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Chinese, Myanmar, and other languages in the future.

Mr. Yoshino:We are also looking forward to the use of AI. We feel that if we can automate tasks that are burdensome to the field, its use in the field will expand even further.

Thank you very much for your valuable insights!