Maximising the world wide web for high quality educational and clinical support to health and medical professionals in rural areas
Section snippets
Context
The electronics revolution and the convergence of computer and communications technologies are transforming the means of production, organisation of work and information flows. This is leading to a global economy based on an information mode of production that will have a profound effect on the organisation of learning and the delivery of services, particularly health and medical services.
Jakupec and Nicholl [1]provided evidence that wide access to information is frequently required as the
Clinical problems’ discussion forum
A Web-based interactive electronic notice board has been developed as a clinical problems’ discussion forum. It has five major objectives:
- 1.
To expand the pool of information available to students.
- 2.
To develop a mutually supportive peer learning environment.
- 3.
To act as a forum for debate about clinical issues.
- 4.
To provide a searchable archive of information.
- 5.
In the future, to assist in the management of clinical problems.
The design
During the trial, emphasis was placed on developing a reliable, easy to use technology environment based on the premise that, if the technology is unfriendly, few will make the effort to use it or to access information and learning support.
The forum utilised an electronic discussion board composed of three basic elements, or window frames. The top frame, the Navigation Bar, enables the user to jump to specific sections of the web site quickly (this is not a specific part of the forum, however,
The trial
Thirty two students in two rotation groups took part in the trial. In the first, 68 contributions were posted and grouped into 21 problem themes. In the second, there were 61 contributions into 16 themes. Problems which generated considerable discussion included issues of informed consent for treatment, sore throat in a teenager, incidental cardiology, hypertension, insomnia, palliative care, abdominal pain, depression, management of ‘social problems’, issues of confidentiality, bradycardia,
Conclusion
Preliminary analysis of the content of the discussion forum indicated that it appears to have potential not only to support students and clinical preceptors in rural and remote locations, but also to be a learning tool to expand the pool of information available to students, develop a mutually supportive peer learning environment, and act as a forum for debate about clinical issues. However, the development of tools for teaching and learning, such as electronic notice boards, should not only
Acknowledgements
The contributions of Divisional academic staff, clinical preceptors and medical students are gratefully acknowledged.
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