Continuing Educational Program in Nursing Informatics for Greek Nurses.

Nurses are required to adapt to a complex and rapidly evolving environment that incorporates new IT technologies. Continuing, lifelong learning, especially in the fast-growing fields of Nursing Informatics, eHealth and related Information and Communication Technologies, is vital to the professionalism of nurses. The study presents the curriculum development and implementation of the educational project entitled "Training of Nurses in Nursing Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)" which has been designed and offered to Greek nurses as a continuing - lifelong online educational program by the Health Informatics Laboratory of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The training material was created in three modules and 29 sub-modules, considering the new advancements and recommended competencies, necessary for the nurse, in the fields of Nursing Informatics and ICT. So far, eight training cycle courses have been offered to 1388 nurses, free of charge. Each course integrates synchronous and asynchronous distance learning methods and requires a workload of 70 hours over 10 weeks. The initial evaluation of the course by the participants, concerning its effectiveness, usefulness, and innovation are very encouraging.

An Online Tool to Inform and Educate Caregivers on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is the most common Motor Neuron Disease. This paper presents the design, development, and evaluation of an online tool that provides information and training materials to caregivers about ALS, to promote health care and quality of life of patients. To collect the appropriate content, a literature review was conducted, and a Content Management System (CMS) was used for the development of the tool. For its evaluation, reliability, acceptance, effectiveness and usefulness were examined through semi-structured interviews. The online tool was positively evaluated by the caregivers, who participated in the evaluation process.

Evaluation of a Laboratory e-Learning Course in Health Informatics.

The current paper presents the students' evaluation of a laboratory e-learning course in Health Informatics. After attending the e-learning course, students assessed the e-learning course through an anonymous questionnaire. The study results present the positive attitude of the students towards the e-learning course in Health Informatics. The current e-learning course is easy to use, and it is preferred on the same extent as the hybrid one (e-learning and in-class learning combination). The majority of the participants believed that the e-learning method is at least the same or more efficient compared to the traditional learning approach. Based on the study findings, it seems that this e-learning course could offer important advantages on the learning process as long as it helps students learn in a more effective manner than traditional learning.

The e-Learning Effectiveness Versus Traditional Learning on a Health Informatics Laboratory Course.

This paper presents a comparison between e-Learning and traditional learning methods of a University course on Health Informatics domain. A pilot research took place among University students who divided on two learning groups, the e-learners and the traditional learners. A comparison of the examinations' marks for the two groups of students was conducted in order to find differences on students' performance. The study results reveal that the students scored almost the same marks independently of the learning procedure. Based on that, it can be assumed that the e-learning courses have the same effectiveness as the in-classroom learning sessions.

The e-learning programmes in Greek Universities: a literature review.

This paper presents an on-line research in Greek universities websites and an international literature review on electronic learning in the field of Health Informatics. The results reveal that there are a lot of e-learning programs offered by universities in Greece, but unfortunately none of them related to Health Informatics domain. On the other hand, the finding of the international literature shows that other European universities conduct e-learning studies in Health Informatics field. Future actions for the enrichment of e-learning service in Greek Health Informatics education are necessary.

Tele-medicine systems in the coordination process of organ transplantation.

AIM: To search feasibility and reliability of Telemedicine Systems (TS) in the Coordination Process (CP) of Organ Transplantation (OT). MATERIAL & METHODS: Forty participants (n=40) were divided in two groups, the specialists and the non specialists and comparatively simulated the telephone/fax and the TS based CP of a renal transplant scenario. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding feasibility and reliability of TS in CP. Specialists found TS significantly more reliable in the fulfillment of all medicolegal requirements of OT (p<.001). CONCLUSION: Coordinators found TS in the CP of OT feasible and reliable.