ABSTRACT
Purpose@#With the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health institutions and hospitals are increasingly relying on e-learning for continuing education. However, in many countries there is still limited data on the effectiveness of online learning particularly in the healthcare field. This study aims to evaluate whether webinar as a form of online educational intervention is satisfactory and effective for the continuing education of health professionals in Indonesia. @*Methods@#We collected participants’ demographic information including health profession, place of work, work unit, and year of graduation. There were six independent webinars included in this study. Webinar outcomes included satisfaction and learning scores. Regarding satisfaction, participants were told to complete a satisfaction survey and asked whether they would recommend the webinar to their colleagues. Regarding learning, information on their mean pre-test and post-test scores was collected. @*Results@#A total of 3,607 health professionals were enrolled, with the highest participation in webinars about emergency cases and COVID-19 management. The response towards satisfaction was overwhelmingly positive. In all six webinars, post-test scores were statistically significantly higher than pre-test scores. Recently graduated physicians scored higher in learning than senior physicians, while place of work and work unit did not significantly affect the scores. @*Conclusion@#The use of webinar for health professionals training in Indonesia was well-received amid the ongoing pandemic. In the future, health institutions and teaching hospitals should optimize the implementation of webinar training as it is associated with low cost, high flexibility, and less time commuting.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#With the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health institutions and hospitals are increasingly relying on e-learning for continuing education. However, in many countries there is still limited data on the effectiveness of online learning particularly in the healthcare field. This study aims to evaluate whether webinar as a form of online educational intervention is satisfactory and effective for the continuing education of health professionals in Indonesia. @*Methods@#We collected participants’ demographic information including health profession, place of work, work unit, and year of graduation. There were six independent webinars included in this study. Webinar outcomes included satisfaction and learning scores. Regarding satisfaction, participants were told to complete a satisfaction survey and asked whether they would recommend the webinar to their colleagues. Regarding learning, information on their mean pre-test and post-test scores was collected. @*Results@#A total of 3,607 health professionals were enrolled, with the highest participation in webinars about emergency cases and COVID-19 management. The response towards satisfaction was overwhelmingly positive. In all six webinars, post-test scores were statistically significantly higher than pre-test scores. Recently graduated physicians scored higher in learning than senior physicians, while place of work and work unit did not significantly affect the scores. @*Conclusion@#The use of webinar for health professionals training in Indonesia was well-received amid the ongoing pandemic. In the future, health institutions and teaching hospitals should optimize the implementation of webinar training as it is associated with low cost, high flexibility, and less time commuting.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#To assess knowledge retention of physicians after participating in a webinar series and its perceived benefits on daily practice and career development. @*Methods@#The webinar series comprised six separate webinars about daily practice. Online questionnaires were sent to all participating physicians via email 3 months after the webinars. The questionnaire assessed knowledge retention through the difference between initial and follow-up post-test as well as the webinar series’ benefits on daily practice and career development. Participants’ demographic information, including their age, gender, education, year of graduation, and work details, were collected to compare outcomes between demographic groups. @*Results@#A total of 689 responses were gathered, and 622 were analyzed. At follow-up, the median knowledge score was significantly lower than the initial median knowledge score (Z=-6.973, p<0.001). Participants’ perception of the webinar series’ benefits on daily practice and career development was very positive. A significant weak negative correlation was found between age and knowledge score at follow-up (rs=-0.157, p<0.001). Physicians who graduated more recently and worked for less than 3 years scored significantly higher on knowledge tests at follow-up. Meanwhile, perception score towards webinar series’ benefits on daily practice was significantly higher among physicians with more extended work history. Male physicians scored significantly higher on perception score towards webinar series’ benefits on career development. @*Conclusion@#Online continuing medical education programs like webinars can encourage physicians to maintain their competence, but further research on improving knowledge retention over time is necessary. Overall, physicians perceived webinars to be beneficial for their professional development.
ABSTRACT
@#Background: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant primary brain tumour and there is no definite cure. It has been suggested that there are significant interactions among mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), their released factors and tumour cells that ultimately determine GBM’s growth pattern. This study aims to analyse the expression of molecules involved in GBM cell apoptotic pathways following treatment with the MSC secretome. Methods: A conditioned medium of umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UCMSC-CM) was generated by culturing the cells on serum-free αMEM for 24 h. Following this, human GBM T98G cells were treated with UCMSC-CM for 24 h. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was then performed to measure the mRNA expression of survivin, caspase-9, TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), DR4 and DcR1. Results: mRNA expression of caspase-9 in CM-treated T98G cells increased 1.6-fold (P = 0.017), whereas mRNA expression of survivin increased 3.5-fold (P = 0.002). On the other hand, TRAIL protein expression was upregulated (1.2-fold), whereas mRNA expression was downregulated (0.4-fold), in CM-treated cells. Moreover, there was an increase in the mRNA expression of both DR4 (3.5-fold) and DcR1 (1,368.5-fold) in CM-treated cells. Conclusion: The UCMSC-CM was able to regulate the expression of molecules involved in GBM cell apoptotic pathways. However, the expression of anti-apoptotic molecules was more upregulated than that of pro-apoptotic molecules.