UK health-care professionals' experience of on-line learning techniques: A systematic review of qualitative data
✍ Scribed by Christopher Carroll; Andrew Booth; Diana Papaioannou; Anthea Sutton; Ruth Wong
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2009
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 319 KB
- Volume
- 29
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-1912
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Introduction:
Continuing professional development and education is vital to the provision of better health services and outcomes. the aim of this study is to contribute to the evidence base by performing a systematic review of qualitative data from studies reporting health professionals' experience of e-learning. no such previous review has been published.
Method:
A systematic review of qualitative data reporting uk health professionals' experiences of the ways in which on-line learning is delivered by higher education and other relevant institutions. evidence synthesis was performed with the use of thematic analysis grounded in the data.
Results:
Literature searches identified 19 relevant studies. the subjects of the studies were nurses, midwives, and allied professions (8 studies), general practitioners and hospital doctors (6 studies), and a range of different health practitioners (5 studies). the majority of courses were stand-alone continuing professional development modules. five key themes emerged from the data: peer communication, flexibility, support, knowledge validation, and course presentation and design.
Discussion:
The effectiveness of on-line learning is mediated by the learning experience. if they are to enhance health professionals' experience of e-learning, courses need to address presentation and course design; they must be flexible, offer mechanisms for both support and rapid assessment, and develop effective and efficient means of communication, especially among the students themselves.