Before the new program
In the Basurto Universitary Hospital we organized a RP training course since the new regulation was implemented.
Our RP Department cooperated in the elaboration of a classical classroom course divided in two sub-courses,
compulsory for all the residents:
- Basic: in the 1st year of residency.
- Advanced: in the 3rd year of residency.
However,
we had to deal with some problems: the tight working schedule of the residents created frequent problems to permit the attendance of the residents to the course; and the Primary Care specialists,
who were working outside the Hospital,
or those residents carrying out stages outside the Hospital were unable to attend.
Also,
the surveys to the residents showed us that RP training was highly unpopular and poorly valuated,
and the worst of it,
was not achieving its goals.
This was a common scenery in other Spanish centres.
This led us to consider a change in the strategy.
We needed a different tool.
More appealing,
giving the student more freedom,
more practice-oriented and not requiring so much time of attendance.
New technologies could help.
As most of the contents and competences to be trained are matters of knowledge,
we decided to change into a combined on-line and workshop approach.
Building the new tool
We decided to use Moodle as a tool to build a website in which RP courses could be placed and residents could access to the courses easily in a personalized way.
Moodle is a free and open-source software learning management system distributed under the GNU General Public License.
It is available in more than 100 languages and has 74,500 sites registered in 231countries,
with more than 96M users [5].
Developed on pedagogical principles,
Moodle is used for e-learning projects: blended learning,
distance education,
flipped classroom and other.
It is widely used,
especially in universities.
It was originally developed to help educators create online courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content.
It is a collaborative platform in continual evolution and development,
thanks to open-source programmers’ work.
Moodle is financially supported by eighty-four Moodle Partners worldwide.
Moodle can be easily downloaded and installed.
Its website includes instructions and tools to easily build your course.
Fig. 2: Moodle website (www.moodle.org).
References: Moodle Pty Ltd. Perth (Australia)
Access to the course
The course can be accessed through the Docencia website of Basurto U.
Hospital. Access to the course needs previous registration and log-in.
Residents are directly inscribed to the course by the Postgraduate Education Department of the Hospital and a password is provided to them for access.
Instructions for the process of registry and access to the platform and the content are included in the website
Fig. 3: Website of the Postgraduate training Department of Basurto U. Hospital
After log-in the attendees enter in a personalized platform in which the educational contents and the evaluation system are displayed and can be accessed.
Access to the course is open for a limited time and reminds are sent via e-mail to warn of the end of the term.
The professors can follow the progress of every attendant,
send them messages and interact with them easily.
Also,
the professors can be easily contacted by the alumni for consultation.
The course includes also a live workshop,
scheduled once the online course is completed,
in which the faculty discuss with the attendees the doubts and diverse topics that must be reinforced.
The faculty use a video to promote discussion diring the workshop.
Structure of the course
There are two courses: Basic course,
aimed to the 1st-year residents,
and Advanced course,
for 3rd-year residents.
Both courses start with an introduction by the Director of the course in which the objectives and the general instructions to follow the course are explained.
The evaluation of the course is explained in detail also.
The Program and a user´s handbook are included too.
At the end of the introduction there is a link to access to the forum of the course.
Every course has a discussion forum of in which the attendees or the professors can post any comment or doubt to be discussed or clarified by the attendees and the professors.
These posts are also delivered to the participants via e-mail.
Basic Course
Includes 5 topics:
-
Fundamentals of radiation detection
- Biological effects of ionizing radiations
- Fundamentals of Radiation protection.
Regulations
- Medical applications of radiation
- Radiation protection of the patient and the public.
Justification
Fig. 4: One of the slides of the 5th topic of the Basic Course
Each one is presented as a Power-point file.
Most of them include supplementary material.
Every chapter ends with a short test of self-assessment to allow the resident checking their understand of the topic.
Advance to the next topic requires completion of the visualization of the material included in the theme,
and the self-assessment test.
The course ends with an evaluation test and a survey to obtain the opinion of the alumni about the course and the achievement of the educational objectives.
To pass the evaluation,
70% of the answers must be correct.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5: Final evaluation test.
Those who pass the evaluation of the online course are called to a live workshop which some of the professors.
In the workshop doubts are discussed and a video is used to promote reflection on the indication and justification of radiological tests and on the patient's point of view.
Advanced Course
As the residents participating belong to two different groups with different training requirements,
it is divided in two parts.
A.- Common part.
For all the residents.
Includes 5 topics:
- Practical application of operational protection against ionizing radiations
- Operational radiological protection of the worker Fig. 6
- Operational radiological protection of the patient
- Pregnancy and use of ionizing radiation
- Radiation protection of the patient and the public
Fig. 6: One of the slides of the 2nd topic of the Common part of the Advanced Course
B.- Specific part.
For the residents belonging to Group-B and Group-C specialties.
It is centred in radiation protection in fluoroscopic procedures.
Includes 3 topics:
- Fluoroscopic procedures.
General considerations
- Fluoroscopic procedures.
Operational radiation protection for the workers
- Fluoroscopic procedures.
Operational radiation protection for the patient
The themes are presented using Power-point files also,
including some supplementary material.
But the specific part is also practical and includes several videos,
specifically built for the course,
which are linked through a Power-point file.
Access to the video can be obtained here.
Fig. 7: Image of one of the videos
In this course,
every chapter ends also with a short test of self-assessment to allow the resident checking their understand of the topic.
Advance to the next topic also requires completion of the visualization of the material included in the theme,
and the self-assessment test.
Similarly to the basic course,
an evaluation test and a survey to obtain the opinion of the alumni are included at the end.
To pass the evaluation,
70% of the answers must be correct.
Fig. 5: Final evaluation test.
Effects of implementation
The surveys showed a significant improvement in the appreciation of the course.
The course has been no longer the worst evaluated of our courses,
as previously was.
It has a significant margin for improvement yet,
however.
An unintended consequence of the change in the format of the course was that we were required for the Health Department of the Balearic Island to share the platform as they had no means to provide this kind of training to their residents.
Since then,
their residents have been included in our online courses,
including the evaluation also.
Live workshops could not be offered,
obviously.
The Health Department of the Balearic Island has expressed us their satisfaction with the course.