Facing the Coronavirus Pandemic: An Integrated Continuing Education Program in Taiwan

Ting-Fang Chiu, Dachen Chu, Sheng-Jean Huang, Mengju Chang, Yining Liu and Jason Jiunshiou Lee
Additional contact information
Ting-Fang Chiu: Department of Pediatrics, Taipei City Hospital Zhongxiao Branch, Taipei 115, Taiwan
Dachen Chu: Department of Health and Welfare, University of Taipei, Taipei 100, Taiwan
Sheng-Jean Huang: Department of Health and Welfare, University of Taipei, Taipei 100, Taiwan
Mengju Chang: Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Yining Liu: Department of Education and Research, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Jason Jiunshiou Lee: Department of Health and Welfare, University of Taipei, Taipei 100, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-11

Abstract: This study aimed to identify knowledge gaps regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and develop an integrated educational program for healthcare workers. First, we designed and validated ten multiple-choice questions to identify knowledge gaps among healthcare workers. Within one month of the online test and curriculum offering, 5533 staff had completed the test, with a completion rate of 84.97%. There were 2618 healthcare workers who answered the pre-test 100% correctly. Those who did not answer the pre-test 100% correctly took multiple tests after learning through the online teaching materials. Eventually, 5214 staff passed the test (pre-test or post-test with 100% correct answers). The result showed that all staff had a low correct rate for personal protective equipment (PPE) use recommendations. The Infection Control Center conducted training sessions for hospital staff on how to wear protective clothing. Information on the selection and use of PPE for infection prevention was provided, and participants were allowed time to practice and familiarize themselves with the correct way to wear PPE. Moreover, the Department of Education and Research continued updating the online learning materials based on the most important updated peer-reviewed published articles. The attending teaching physicians helped to search, translate, and take notes on articles in the local language (traditional Chinese) for other colleagues to read easily. We expect to increase learning opportunities for healthcare workers, even during uncertain times such as the current coronavirus pandemic through (1) the hospital-wide course announcements, (2) the continuous placement of test questions and learning files on the digital learning platform, (3) the placement of journal highlights in cloud folders, and (4) the use of the digital learning platform on mobile phones accessible outside the hospital.

Keywords: integrated continuing education model; continuing education; COVID-19; healthcare workers; health knowledge; knowledge gaps; online learning; local language (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2417/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2417/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2417-:d:508663

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().