About PCORI

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent nonprofit, nongovernmental organization located in Washington, DC. It was authorized by Congress in 2010 with the mandate to improve the quality and relevance of evidence available to help patients, caregivers, clinicians, employers, insurers, and policymakers make informed health decisions. Specifically, PCORI funds comparative clinical effectiveness research, or CER, as well as supports work that will improve the methods used to conduct such studies.

PCORI’s mission is to help people make informed healthcare decisions and improve healthcare delivery and outcomes, by producing and promoting high-integrity, evidence-based information that comes from research guided by patients, caregivers, and the broader healthcare community.

Training Need

PCORI provides training for their internal staff, applicants for research funding as well as those who are successful in obtaining funding for research projects. While PCORI typically provides the content for the training, it needed a custom eLearning development company to take that content and transform it into an interactive, high-quality learning experience.  Since TrainSmart has been creating custom training content for over 25 years, we became that partner after completing a task few firms relish: taking over a project that was started by another firm.

Today, TrainSmart works with PCORI on a wide range of projects. Sometimes existing training needs updating to reflect new information and processes. Other times, TrainSmart has the opportunity to design and develop blended learning solutions.

Training Solutions

Taking Over a Project

In many ways, cleaning up an eLearning project that has gone off the rails is one of the most challenging assignments. Often the deadlines are tight because by the time the problem is discovered, it’s usually late in the process. In addition, the designers and developers must work with what has already been created–not necessarily the way they would want to approach the project.

Some of the typical problems that an eLearning cleanup crew must deal with:

  • Content that is force-fitted into an existing template instead of having a treatment to fit the content.
  • Inconsistent visuals that fail to conform to the style guidelines for eLearning visuals regarding font styles and sizes
  • An excessive amount of content on one visual ends up being squished and is almost non-readable.
  • Lack of interaction to make the learning enjoyable and memorable.

The challenge for the training that needed to be cleaned up was to take the existing content and create a design that was both user-friendly and attractive. Where static content existed, click and reveals were added as well as a timeline and step treatments. These all provide an element of interactivity enabling the learner to engage with the material. When appropriate, visuals were added to provide some imagery to the course.

Updating an existing eLearning Course

While updating an existing training is usually one of the least complex assignments, that is not always the case.  One of PCORI’s existing eLearning courses was targeted at people who do Merit Reviews. Their job is to review applications for research projects and decide whether the project should be funded.  The training is designed to take them through the process they need to follow and each course contains key dates that they need to meet. When PCORI needed to update that training to share lessons learned, new processes, and new dates, it turned to TrainSmart to implement those changes.

It was not as straightforward as it might seem because the merit reviews are divided into multiple categories and none of the categories follows the exact same process or has the same dates. The complicating factor is that they share some processes and dates with the other categories. Several categories might share the same dates but follow different processes while other categories might have the same new process as another category but have different dates.

For the instructional design consultant, it meant figuring out where information was duplicable and matching it with the correct module in the correct category.  The one thing no one wanted was to recreate information that could have been shared from a different module.

It was like putting together a huge puzzle requiring masterful organization and project management skills to keep this massive amount of information straight and make sure the right processes, updates, and dates were assigned to the correct categories without duplicating material that had previously been created.

Original Courses

To be approved for research funding from PCORI, applicants need to follow a very strict procedure.  The proposals are complex and time-consuming. To make sure applicants fully understand the process they must follow to ensure their proposal can be submitted for review. PCORI wanted to create an eLearning that would provide basic information on the right way to submit an application for research.

TrainSmart teamed with PCORI to create an eLearning module that takes applicants step by step through the necessary process.

Frequently Asked Questions About TrainSMART’s Work With PCORI

Who is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)?

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). Located in Washington, DC, PCORI’s mission is to help patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals make informed health decisions through high-integrity, evidence-based research.

What type of training support does PCORI require?

PCORI provides training for internal staff, research grant applicants, and funded researchers. The organization needed an instructional design partner to transform complex scientific content into interactive eLearning modules that align with their mission and help diverse audiences understand processes, timelines, and review procedures.

Why did PCORI choose TrainSMART as an eLearning development partner?

TrainSMART was selected for its 25+ years of experience designing custom training programs for government, healthcare, and research organizations. The company successfully took over and completed an in-progress project that required rebuilding content, improving user experience, and ensuring instructional consistency across modules.

What challenges did TrainSMART face when taking over the project?

When TrainSMART inherited the project, many elements were incomplete or misaligned. The team addressed challenges such as inconsistent visuals, overcrowded slides, limited interactivity, and poor navigation. By introducing click-and-reveal interactions, step-by-step timelines, and improved visual design, TrainSMART created a more engaging learner experience.

How did TrainSMART update existing PCORI eLearning courses?

One major update involved the Merit Review eLearning course used to train reviewers who evaluate research proposals. TrainSMART reorganized and updated content to reflect new processes and timelines, ensuring that shared elements between categories were consistent while maintaining unique information for each review group.

What was the instructional design strategy for PCORI’s original courses?

TrainSMART collaborated with PCORI to create structured eLearning modules that walk applicants through the complex research funding application process. The goal was to simplify compliance requirements and ensure every applicant understood each step before submitting their proposal for review.

What makes TrainSMART uniquely qualified for research-based organizations like PCORI?

TrainSMART specializes in converting technical and scientific content into engaging, learner-friendly formats. With deep expertise in instructional design, project management, and adult learning, TrainSMART ensures that organizations like PCORI can deliver accurate, accessible, and compliant training across departments and stakeholders.

Can TrainSMART provide similar eLearning solutions for other organizations?

Yes. TrainSMART partners with nonprofits, government agencies, and healthcare organizations to design and develop interactive learning experiences. Whether updating existing content or building new programs from scratch, TrainSMART helps teams deliver complex information in clear, impactful ways.