- 作者：Dr Ali M Ghanem ; PhDa ; a.ghanem@qmul.ac.uk ; Malik Zaben ; PhDb ; Nafiz Abu Shaban ; FRCSc ; Colin Green ; PhDd ; Ghassan Abu-Sitta ; FRCS [Plast]e ; Simon Myers ; FRCS [Plast]a
- 刊名：The Lancet
- 出版年：2012
- 出版时间：October, 2012
- 年：2012
- 卷：380
- 期：supp_S1
- 页码：S28-S29
- 全文大小：1K
Background
The continued Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), has detrimental effects on health care. Palestinian health-care workers have few opportunities for continuous professional development outside the oPt. e-learning and video-conferencing are seen as being key solutions to address the barriers in health care and education in the Gaza Strip. We report the results of a 2 year postgraduate programme in which teleconferencing and e-learning were combined for medical and nursing practitioners working in burn care in the Gaza Strip. The aims in the programme were to improve clinical services, research, and continued education in burn care. We also present a health-care-worker-focused assessment of the programme after the completion of the first academic year.Methods
11 students (seven doctors and four nurses) working in burn care in the Gaza Strip were enrolled on the postgraduate programme for a diploma in burn care at Queen Mary University of London, London, UK, for the academic year 2010-11. The students' academic needs were identified through an initial teleconferencing interview and assessment of a self-rated questionnaire. Weekly educational meetings about clinical knowledge, research methods, critical analysis of medical literature, and principles of evidence-based medicine according to the BestBETs guidelines of Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK, were scheduled between January and October, 2011. Learning was achieved with a combination of videoconferences with Skype (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg) and web-based e-learning modules with Blackboard Learning System (version 8.0). At the end of the first year, a second self-rated survey was sent to the students and completed anonymously to assess the process and progress of tele-education. All students provided both verbal and written informed consent.
Findings
Between January and October, 2011, a total of 36 teleseminars and 1703 e-learning sessions were delivered to the 11 students: ten instructional sessions about academic practice; four about methods of evidence-based medicine; 11 about critical appraisal of scientific literature; four about academic writing; two about presentation skills; and four about journal club. Mean session time was 80 min (SD 12). Mean time spent by a student on the e-learning platform was 17 min (6) per login session. The mean mark for the assessment of 242 assignments to students in their first year of the programme was 67¡¤4 % (5¡¤4). The results of a survey with the 5-point Likert scale confirmed that the programme's highest educational effect was through enabling practitioners to find and critically appraise information relevant to the daily care of their patients. As a result, the outcome of practice was defined and measured; and the awareness of the importance of quality control, audit, and research in health care was increased (nine, eight, and seven students, respectively, agreed or strongly agreed). Seven students thought that the programme's educational effect has led to direct improvement in the care of patients with burns. The results also showed some of the difficulties encountered with tele-education by the students; the top five reasons were inability to participate during the days of the practical clinic of the course (eight students), tele-educational conferencing sessions not long enough or too few (six), power cuts (six), inadequate tele-education facility (five), and difficulties in accessing library e-resources (three). The assessments of the students informed future development priorities of the programme by improving the content of the multimedia library (seven students thought that the multimedia components of the programme were inadequate in the provision of examples of good practice in burn care).
Interpretation
Telemedicine educational programmes are effective for the measurable achievement of learning objectives, thereby ensuring continuous professional development for health-care workers and guiding the care of patients. Further development of burn-care services in the Gaza Strip through education requires improvement of tele-education facilities.
Funding
None.