Webinar Series Enhances Healthcare Skills, Spurs Student Engagement

When two members of Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) academics team identified a gap in resources for health professions students, they took action.

Survey responses from SNHU’s Annual Global Campus Student Satisfaction Survey noted that a number of students shared a desire for more interaction with instructors in their online courses. Some wanted live instruction. Others wanted webinars. And some were just seeking quality time with classmates. Laurie Lewis, clinical faculty coordinator, and Dr. Meredith O’Hara, associate dean of health professions, were determined to meet these needs.

So, Lewis and O’Hara created HP CARES: the Health Professions Creating Awareness & Real-world Engagement Series.

It was the first of its kind for the healthcare programs at SNHU: a series of live webinars led monthly by experts in the field. Each session was designed to give students face-to-face interaction with instructors and exposure to career opportunities. And perhaps most importantly, students are left with applicable knowledge for the classroom and beyond.

In other words, it was exactly what students were looking for.

A Range of Sessions: From Leadership to Ethics

Most speakers were SNHU faculty members who were referred to Lewis and O’Hara by deans of the healthcare programs. HP CARES has explored a variety of topics aimed at empowering professionals in healthcare and public health, according to Lewis.

Over the past year, topics have included:

• Insights into leadership development
• Ethics in healthcare
• Empowering caregivers by resolving systemic barriers to positive organizational performance
• Relationship-building between clinicians and administrators

“These conversations have provided invaluable perspectives from experienced professionals, helping attendees navigate their own journeys with confidence and clarity,” Lewis said.

In post-seminar survey answers, session themes seemed to land well with attendees and were part of why the series was successful.

“My favorite part of HP CARES was the honest and realistic discussion about what it means to achieve your goals and what it takes to get there,” one student said.

The career focus resonated with others, too.

“The information (from) this event was very informative and (had) tools that I can use to improve my professional development,” said another student.

Another appreciated the opportunity to learn more about remote work. “The tips shared on how to maintain productivity and ensure data security in a remote environment were valuable,” they said.

For some students, a personal connection was their biggest takeaway.

“(A) speaker shared many ways to exude empathy, trust and how to improve change through proactive initiatives,” one student said.

A Series With Students at the Center

Data collected from the webinars aligned with this feedback. Over the sessions held between Sept. 2022 and May 2025, SNHU students from every U.S. state and more than 40 countries globally attended live or watched a recorded session.

Of the participants from the 2024-2025 season of HP CARES, 96.8% said the seminars expanded their understanding of the healthcare field and career options, while 97.3% reported the sessions felt aligned with their coursework. With this data in mind, Lewis and O’Hara knew the series needed to continue.

As for topics, they remained mindful of what students want and need.

“Student survey responses indicate that the participants can relate to and feel inspired by the culturally diverse speakers we have selected to take part in HP CARES,” O’Hara said. "We look forward to future speakers sharing more of their lived experiences with our SNHU students.”

When students asked for a seminar about health information management (HIM), for example, Lewis and O’Hara made it the first one in the next series.

By 2024, HP CARES launched a series dedicated to HIM students. This initiative not only responded to student feedback but also aligned with updated standards from the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). "(The Special) HIM Edition helped the HIM program meet the new CAHIIM accreditation experiential learning standard," said Dr. Lynn Ward, director of HIM programs at SNHU.

These sessions gave HIM students opportunities to enhance their classroom learning with real-world applications.

“By integrating authentic, supervised learning experiences and fostering competency development, the sessions support (CAHIIM)’s emphasis on practical skill-building, formative feedback and measurable student growth,” said Dr. Shakera Moreland, clinical faculty of HIM programs at SNHU.

Other session topics over the years have included hospital leadership, law and ethics in healthcare and modernizing senior centers in rural communities.

What Success Looks Like

As they reflected on its first iteration, Lewis and O’Hara identified what, specifically, went well.

“When students are in a session, it seems to help them build confidence in what they want to do with their education,” Lewis said. “The resources provided by our speakers have been invaluable to students in regards to time management, networking and career development.”

As the creators of this series, Lewis and O'Hara describe the results as rewarding, and their passion for this work excites them for what's to come.

The next installation of HP CARES will run from Sept. 2025 through Apr. 2026, and the HIM-focused HP CARES edition will continue to be available year-round. All SNHU students are welcome to attend.

Abigail (Abby) Mark ’23G is a copywriter and contributing content writer at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Prior to her role in marketing, Abby spent four years on SNHU’s student experience team as an academic advisor and team lead of academic advising. In 2018, she graduated from Saint Anselm College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and went on to earn her Master of Arts in English & Creative Writing at SNHU in the spring of 2023.

She is also an adjunct faculty member at SNHU and is passionate about sharing her love for creative writing with online undergraduate students. Abby hopes her writing will help prospective students and employees alike see just how transformative SNHU could be for them (as it’s been pretty transformative for her). You can connect with her on LinkedIn.