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AIM: This paper describes the development of the training programme for South African professional nurses on how to manage critically ill COVID-19 patients in intensive care units and repurposed general wards. DESIGN AND METHODS: The Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation educational instructional design model guided the development of the training programme. A case-based study approach and blended learning were used to deliver the six modules. RESULTS: The training programme was developed, reviewed and validated by the coordinating team of facilitators involved in the initiative. Implementation of the training programme and the result thereof will not be discussed as part of this manuscript. CONCLUSION: The training programme aimed to enhance the knowledge of professional nurses in the management of critically ill patients with COVID-19. As the pandemic evolves, a need for training and ongoing support was identified, which might address the need for surge capacity and hospital readiness planning.
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Background Objectives Methods Results and Conclusions Takeaways The emergence of remote teaching during the Coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic caused several gaps due to teachers being unprepared to teach online. Teachers did not achieve many digital competencies, resulting in an inability to facilitate the students' learning by using technology creatively to overcome challenges. Accordingly, developing teachers' digital competencies to facilitate the teaching and learning process will: positively impact students' innovative use of digital technology in completing their tasks;consequently, develop their digital competencies;prepare them for jobs that do not yet exist;and support them for unexpected challenges they might face.This study investigates the impact of the upskilling training programme on developing teachers' digital competence, where the aim is to investigate if the teachers' digital competence has improved from the expected intermediate level stated by the World Bank Report in 2021, where strategies for the Digital Skills Action Plan were mentioned. For instance, strategy 2 "Reform of Digital Skills programmes” stated that students must acquire at least intermediate level of general digital skills. Strategy 3 "Enhance use of technologies in teaching and learning” aims to advance teachers' digital competencies to be above the intermediate level. Accordingly, the above average level was used in the hypothesis as a benchmark of the teachers' levels after attending the upskilling training programme. The upskilling training programme of this study is a 10‐week training session using blended learning approach with instructor leading. The training's long‐term goals aim to construct a higher level of competency in a set of skills, attitudes as well as knowledge, which include digital citizenship;communication and collaboration;critical thinking, problem‐solving, and decision‐making;creativity and innovation;using technology as a tool.A sequential mixed‐method approach using quantitative and qualitative data was used. An online survey with closed‐ended items was adopted to collect quantitative data from teachers. The qualitative data was collected through teachers' focus group discussions using the Zoom conference meetings platform. The participants are K‐12 teachers from a group of national charity schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).The study results revealed that the upskilling training programme efficiently developed teachers' digital competence where they construct knowledge and skills. Teachers exhibit a positive attitude towards using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity, consequently developing their digital competence. As a result, this will also lead to the development of the students' digital competencies, where they will be able to overcome challenges they might face in this changing world, especially after the pandemic of Covid‐19, where there is reliance on the use of technology.These findings aid in understanding the impact of the upskilling training programme on the development of the teachers' digital competence. Educators need to provide teachers with suitable online and face‐to‐face training that meets the teachers' needs. However, understanding the difference between upskilling and reskilling training programmes is vital to delivering training that develops the teachers' capabilities. [ FROM AUTHOR]
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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the disruption of surgical training. Lack of communication, guidelines for managing clinical activity as well as concerns for safety in the workplace appeared to be relevant issues. This study aims to investigate how surgical training has been reorganized in Italy, almost 2 years after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: A 16-item-electronic anonymous questionnaire was designed through SurveyMonkey© web application. This survey was composed of different sections concerning demographic characteristics and impacts of the second COVID-19 pandemic wave on surgical and research/didactic activities. Changes applied in the training programme and activities carried out were also investigated. The survey was carried out in the period between June and October 2021. Results: Four hundred and thirty responses were collected, and 399 were considered eligible to be included in the study analysis. Three hundred and thirty-five respondents continued working in Surgical Units, with a significant reduction (less than one surgical session per week) of surgical sessions in 49.6% of them. With concern to didactic and research activities, 140 residents maintained their usual activity, while 116 reported a reduction. A sub-group analysis on resident moved to COVID-19 departments showed a reduction of research activities in 35% of them. During the period considered in this survey, the surgical training program was not substantially modified for most of participants (74.6%). Conclusion: Our survey demonstrated that surgical residency programs haven't improved 2 years after the beginning of the pandemic. Further improvements are needed to guarantee completeness of surgical training, even in emergency conditions.
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Background: Local children with developmental disabilities were deprived of learning opportunities due to recent social and health incidents, resulting in elevating challenging behaviors and familial conflicts. This study explored the acceptability and feasibility of the World Health Organization's Caregiver Skills Training Programme (WHO CST) in alternative delivery modes under new normal and post COVID-19 period. Method: CST was delivered via eLearning (EL), videoconferencing (VC), and in-person hybrid (IP) modes to 34 parent-child dyads, being randomly assigned to modes of asynchronous non-interfering EL (n = 9), synchronous with online coaching VC (n = 7), synchronous with in-person coaching IP (n = 9) and Wait-list Control WLC (n = 9). Data from two standardized scales of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and Post-session and Home Visit Feedback Form by Caregivers that included both structured and open-ended questions were collected before and after intervention. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in studying the collected data. Results: High levels of acceptability and feasibility of the training programme were supported by ratings on comprehensiveness and relevance, agreement with their personal values, duration, and usefulness. IP and VC groups yielded more positive changes than EL and WLC groups with 3, 16, 13, and -3% in General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), -13, -15, -6 and 0% in Difficulties-total, and 36.5, 35.5, 5.8 and 2.4% in Prosocial Scale at Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for EL, VC, IP, and WLC groups respectively from baseline to 12 weeks after intervention. Results from two standardized scales echoed with qualitative observations that the programme helped improve caregivers' well-being, child's communication, and behaviors across intervention groups. Conclusions: Current findings revealed that CST delivered in three alternative modes were acceptable and feasible, and yielded positive impacts toward both caregivers and children. In-person coaching, and skill-practicing sessions were effective in mitigating child's challenging behaviors while personal interaction, either face-to-face or virtual, is a significant factor in uplifting caregivers' well-being, whereas the self-learning model was appreciated by the busy caregivers. In clinical practice, needs and goals of families and the constraints of remote interventions at the settings should be balanced.
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BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity is of great relevance in Parkinson's disease (PD). It is part of the inpatient multimodal Parkinson's complex treatment (MKP) in Germany. However, there is often a lack of human resources in outpatient settings to continue an interprofessional approach. A large proportion of PD patients live a predominantly sedentary lifestyle and do not get enough exercise. METHODS: The intervention group (IG) used a tablet-based physiotherapy training programme at home for a period of nine months. We conducted a quasi-randomised longitudinal study with three measurement times (at the beginning (t0) and end of MKP (t1) and at 9 months after MKP (t2)). The primary outcome measured was PD-specific quality of life using the PDQ-8. The secondary outcome focused on participation restrictions, falling anxiety, sleep disorder, anxiety and depression as well as comorbidity, pain, performance capability and physical activity. RESULTS: For n = 93 IG and n = 137 control group (CG) patients, evaluable cases were available for all measurement times. Both groups achieved significant improvements in all parameters at the end of MKP. These parameters deteriorated again at nine months after MKP for most parameters and were even below the baseline levels. However, this deterioration was less pronounced in the IG than in the CG. For general health and social participation, a significant slightly positive effect was observed in the IG nine months after MKP when compared with the baseline level. Paying attention to physical activity slightly increased in the IG for the catamnesis survey compared to baseline. Nearly all IG patients were satisfied with the intervention, especially with the consultations with the physiotherapist. CONCLUSIONS: Although the expected extent of effects could not be determined for the IG, stabilisation effects could be demonstrated. These stabilisation effects shown for the IG might be attributed to the intervention. The effects might have been greater without the COVID-19 pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Register of Clinical Trials, drks.de. Identifier: DRKS00014952. Registered 20/06/2018. Date and version identifier 25/04/2019; version 1.