Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 28;4(2):198-206.
doi: 10.34197/ats-scholar.2022-0086IN. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Digital Delivery of a Global Critical Care Education Program

Yuqiang Sun  1   2   3 , Rahul Kashyap  3   4 , Katherine Heise  1 , Claudia Castillo Zambrano  1   3 , Alexander Niven  1   3 , Ognjen Gajic  1   3 , Yue Dong  3   4
Affiliations

Digital Delivery of a Global Critical Care Education Program

Yuqiang Sun et al. ATS Sch. .

Abstract

Background: CERTAIN (Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and iNjury) education program was developed to accelerate the global dissemination of a standardized, systemic, structured approach to critical care delivery. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic prompted the evolution of this program from a live in-person course to a blended synchronous and asynchronous learning experience, including virtual simulation.

Objectives: We describe our experience and insights gained through this digital program transformation and highlight areas in need of further research to advance the delivery of high-quality online education offerings to global interprofessional audiences.

Methods: The CERTAIN education program was delivered to a broad international audience first in person (2016-2019) and then virtually during the COVID-19 global pandemic (2020-present). During this transition, we adopted a flipped classroom model to deliver the core content asynchronously using an online learning management system, supplemented by a novel synchronous online experience to provide learners with the opportunity to apply these concepts using a series of simulated clinical cases.

Results: A total of 400 participants attended 11 CERTAIN courses. We transitioned our 10-hour live course to a 3-hour virtual workshop. The duration of simulation activities (admission, rounding, and shared decision-making) remained constant. Didactic lectures were eliminated from the synchronous online course and presented as recorded videos in precourse materials. We collected 306 postcourse surveys (response rate, 76.5%). The majority of the overall course ratings were excellent (147 [49.5%]) and very good (97 [32.7%]), and learner responses were similar to live and online courses. Simulation activities were consistently the most popular elements of our program. Access to digital learning platforms and language barriers during simulation activities proved to be the greatest challenges during our transition. Delivering mobile-friendly online content and close coordination between dedicated bilingual faculty and local champions helped overcome these challenges.

Conclusion: Critical care education and case-based simulation workshops can be delivered to international interprofessional audiences with similar, high degrees of learner satisfaction to in-person offerings.

Keywords: checklist; critical care; global health survey; interprofessional education; quality improvement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Development of CERTAIN online course modules. CERTAIN = Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and iNjury.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Diaz JV, Riviello ED, Papali A, Adhikari NKJ, Ferreira JC. Global critical care: moving forward in resource-limited settings. Ann Glob Health . 2019;85:3. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Riviello ED, Letchford S, Achieng L, Newton MW. Critical care in resource-poor settings: lessons learned and future directions. Crit Care Med . 2011;39:860–867. - PubMed
    1. Vincent JL, Marshall JC, Namendys-Silva SA, François B, Martin-Loeches I, Lipman J, et al. ICON investigators Assessment of the worldwide burden of critical illness: the intensive care over nations (ICON) audit. Lancet Respir Med . 2014;2:380–386. - PubMed
    1. Cubro H, Somun-Kapetanovic R, Thiery G, Talmor D, Gajic O. Cost effectiveness of intensive care in a low resource setting: a prospective cohort of medical critically ill patients. World J Crit Care Med . 2016;5:150–164. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fowler RA, Adhikari NK, Bhagwanjee S. Clinical review: critical care in the global context—disparities in burden of illness, access, and economics. Crit Care . 2008;12:225. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources