Good practices in asynchronous e-learning — a short guideline document for Polish medical teachers — a pilot study

INTRODUCTION: E-learning is gaining popularity also in medical education. It offers students unlimited access to educational materials, helps meet their individual preferences by adapting various learning styles, and is considered to be at least as effective as traditional lectures. However, this can only be true provided that e-learning is of good quality. Short guidelines may be used to familiarise medical teachers with good practices in e-learning, but they should meet the needs of their users, and some areas may require more attention. They should be identified, and medical teachers should be provided with additional resources covering them. This study aimed to develop a short guideline for Polish medical teachers and determine potentially troublesome areas. METHODS: A detailed review of the literature was performed to create a guideline on preparing and conducting e-learning classes. The most important items from it were listed as an evaluation template and pre-tested on a sample of 10 e-learning courses in a search for areas requiring more attention. RESULTS: Half of the courses did not provide students with a syllabus, and none of them clearly defined intended learning outcomes. Also, adult learning concepts were not introduced satisfactorily. Only seven out of 10 courses used activities at all, and they often tested simple knowledge reproduction, were limited to poorly-written test questions, and placed at the end of lessons. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study three potentially troublesome areas were identified: defining learning outcomes, application of adult learning theory, and choice of activities. KEY WORDS: e-learning quality, e-learning guidelines, medical teacher

The awareness of caregivers about their children’s exposure to ionizing radiation accompanying medical procedures: the assessment study

Objectives The aim of the study was a survey-based assessment concerning parents of children undergoing CT examinations and their knowledge of detailed information about procedures involved in imaging diagnostics. Material and Methods A statistical analysis of 108 surveys of parents of children undergoing CT studies in the Department of Pediatric Radiology in Poznań, Poland was done, with the use of Statistica software. Results In result of the evaluation of all subsections of the substantive question number, the majority of answers were incorrect (68–98%). No correlation between the number of CT examinations conducted for a child and the number of correct answers to substantive questions was observed. No correlation between the number of CT examinations conducted for a child and the fact of noting the examination with the use of ionizing radiation down in a child’s health certificate was stated. The statistical analysis showed that children of parents who declared that the aim of the CT examination had been explained to them better underwent more of them. Conclusions Parents are poorly informed about a radiation dose and risk related to a CT examination procedure. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(1):65–7