CME for Health Care Workers in Developing Countries

by Inge de Waardppt: http://www.slideshare.net/ignatia

This is the global knowledge revolution!

Human history has never before witnessed such a massive global content creation, this is a knowledge revolution boosted by technology.

mobiles are increasingly the computers of the futureand now emerging countries are getting on board rapidly

Landlines are skipped in favor of mobile connectivity

Mobile learning is on the rise

Excellent lifelong learning instrument

context aware + identity

Continuing Medical Education (CME) is becoming possible also in developing countries

Can we reach physicians in the field to deliver lifelong learning?

Keeping physicians in contact with peers will enhance knowledge exchange in priority settings (HIV/AIDS is increasingly spreading)

Getting the latest medical information out there is crucial

Telemedicine website: peer to peer

discussion forum with mobile access

website

Starting from web-based contentUser created content + peer to peer knowledge exchange

Medical answers within 24 hours!

Provide a peer content platform and make it accessible for mobiles

http://mobile.voorlopig.be

Adding CME modules to the Telemedicine website

CME keeps physicians on top of their speciality & if it is linked to the Telemedicine website =>

growing number of users

To tackle the CME we first looked at the mobile status of physicians

We needed to know:

- Which type of mobiles they had? (‘regular’ + smartphone)

- If they would be interested

- What would make a difference for them as a learner

What physicians wanted was/is

Access with their own cell phone (so it needed to be accessible with cheap and expensive phones)

Getting a message pushed to them when a new CME was launched

Make it easily accessible (= no long connections needed)

Certification for following it! Important career wise

Our delivery method of choice: standardized mobile content

So it was clear: HTML + CSS:

It is easy to build (dreamweaver or the free pagebreeze), is small in size, adapts to the phone screen and allows pictures/visuals (you need to resize them irfanview e.g.)

Mobile web initiative provides best practices

Getting the CME out there: the pilot phase Physician/learner group: 4 across Europe in well connected

areas, 6 in less (= internet) connected areas (Suriname, DR Congo, South Africa, Cambodia, Morocco)

Variable phone types + e-mail for feedback One CME per month

See for yourself (this combines things that went wrong): http://tinyurl.com/ITM3CME

Adding user friendliness & motivation

Userfriendliness:

- Sending an sms when a new CME is issued (in our case using the Jeyo mobile companion);

- In the CME a tinyURL is embedded to allow quick access to the CME (smaller url = easier to type with cell phone).

Motivation:

- A certificate is issued if the learners successfully (cut off 80%) take an assessment after 6 months of CMEs

(Jeyo mobile companion)

Extra’s: extra learner dynamic

Extra 2: demand for multimedia

Using a mix of AVS4you + Camtasiahttp://www.itg.be/tempupload/uploadfolder/Inge/for_mobile

_presentation/NaturalEvolution_audioOk.avi

Feedback of the pilot group

Advantages They liked the relevant information that was brought to

them Learning at their own convenience Opened new ways of learning They felt connected with peers

Disadvantages Access was not ensured in the field and this could drain

the battery The screen was small for learning (in the older cell phone

types) Without electricity the battery can run out Graphics/tables sometimes unclear on small screens

Exploring (future) soft- & hardware for CME

Mobile offline possibilities enabling multimedia courses.

Mobile = mp4 conversion so you have any video you want. Use cheap video converter software like AVS4you (39,95 EUR)

Connect the mobile to a television set and use it as a desktop for bigger screen (this technology will be standardized in new mobile devices, you can even use it as a desktop check it out on a youtube movie, it is a brandname, sorry for the marketing)

Solar panels are already out there.

Contact meEmail: idewaard@itg.be

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