Résumé :
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West Park Healthcare Centre (WPHC), a 287 bed facility specializing in rehabilitation and complex continuing care, has a 28 bed unit for patients requiring long term ventilation, 4 beds for training and assessment as well as a home program supervising >300 individuals who receive home ventilation. In 2007, WPHC was designated by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as a Centre of Excellence for Long-Term Ventilation. The Long-Term Ventilation (LTV) program has been challenged to meet the educational needs of a growing group of patients/consumers/families and their caregivers. It has been identified that education programs are available for health care professionals, but there is limited programming for caregivers and consumers/patients. Barriers to access include financial constraints, a shortage of educators, lack of critical mass outside urban centres and varying educational requirements. Over the past two years, to meet an internal need, WPHC has been utilizing e-learning modules for hospital initiatives. The LTV program decided to review the impact of these e-learning modules to determine if this approach would fulfill the identified needs for an external audience. The benefits of e-learning are : 24 hour access to education from any site, a capability to track module completion, the ability to obtain online feedback to improve program offerings, and pre and post tests using case studies to help evaluate effectiveness. Given these advantages, the LTV program decided to develop and launch a series of e-learning interactive education modules starting with Respiratory Anatomy and Physiology, Tracheostomy Care, Tracheal Suction, Invasive and Non Invasive Ventilation. The goal of these modules is to address the learning needs of a diverse audience, however; it is not intended as a substitute for the care and training from healthcare professionals. After this initial launch the outcomes were measured by tracking the number of users that accessed and completed the education. Participant feedback was also collected and analyzed. It has been used to improve content and to identify future projects. Over six months 1241 people accessed the e-learning modules from across the country and around the world. WPHC and the LTV Centre of Excellence have demonstrated that e-learning is an effective and efficient way of disseminating information. The technology enables people to access the information that they need, when they need it, at their own pace and preferred location.
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