ABSTRACT
Background In multidisciplinary education, different perspectives from more than one discipline are used to illustrate a certain topic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an online, multidisciplinary radiology curriculum to teach radiology to medical students in Egypt. A multidisciplinary team of radiologists, surgeons, and internists taught a series of 5 case-based radiology sessions on a web conference platform. Topics included common clinical case scenarios for various body systems. Undergraduate medical students across Egypt were enrolled in the course. A pre-test–post-test design was used to evaluate the efficacy of each session. Upon course completion, students filled out a subjective survey to assess the radiology education series. Results On average, 1000 students attended each session. For each session, an average of 734 students completed both the pre-test and post-test. There was a statistically significant increase in post-test scores compared to pre-test scores across all 5 sessions (p < 0.001) with an overall average score improvement of 63%. A subjective survey at the end of the course was completed by 1027 students. Over 96% of students found the lecture series to be a worthwhile experience that increased their imaging knowledge and interest in radiology, and that the use of a multidisciplinary approach added educational value. About 66% of students also reported that the session topics were “excellent and clinically important.” There was a marked increase in reported confidence levels in radiology competencies before and after attendance of the sessions. Conclusions An online radiology curriculum with a multidisciplinary approach can be implemented successfully to reach a large group of medical students and meet their educational objectives.
ABSTRACT
We present evidence-based design principles for three different UV-C based decontamination systems for N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) within the context of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak of 2019-2020. The approaches used here were created with consideration for the needs of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and other under-resourced facilities. As such, a particular emphasis is placed on providing cost-effective solutions that can be implemented in short order using generally available components and subsystems. We discuss three optical designs for decontamination chambers, describe experiments verifying design parameters, validate the efficacy of the decontamination for two commonly used N95 FFRs (3M, #1860 and Gerson #1730), and run mechanical and filtration tests that support FFR reuse for at least five decontamination cycles.