Sustainable, collaborative EEG learning with a nationwide webinar

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To under stand the needs and issues of electr oencephalogr aphy (EEG) education following the onset of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and report our current EEG webinar management. Methods: We conducted a weekly online EEG lectur e at Hir oshima Univer sity Hospital in a hybrid format from July 2020 to December 2021. We recruited trainees using multiple types of social network services (SNS). We assessed the background of trainees in terms of postgraduate year, hospital size and location, area of expertise, entry route for registration, and clinical interests. We also investigated the current EEG educational needs and other relevant issues. Results: A total of 468 tr ainees (419 clinicians, 49 technicians) r egister ed fr om var ious insti-tutes nationwide (229 hospitals and 9 clinics). As more than 60 webinars were presented over a year, a cumulative total of more than 3,000 trainees joined the webinars. Trainees’ background was variable. SNS were helpful for recruitment. Major reasons for participation were to learn the minimum essentials of reading an EEG (70.1%) and to be able to read a digital EEG (56.5%). Privacy policies and web communication failures were major challenges. Discussion: The study identified r obust and nationwide needs for lear ning EEG r egar dless of area of expertise. Reduced face-to-face chance due to the pandemic greatly affected EEG educa-tion, as the education conventionally took a form of multidisciplinary collaboration in person. Our experience suggests that in addition to face-to-face education, information and communication technology can provide a sustainable learning platform.