Online peer consulting for health professionals.
Journal
The clinical teacher
ISSN: 1743-498X
Titre abrégé: Clin Teach
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101227511
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
10 2019
10 2019
Historique:
pubmed:
10
10
2018
medline:
11
7
2020
entrez:
10
10
2018
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Many health care professionals specialise in particular medical fields. Nevertheless, they often encounter patients with other indications for which they have only limited experience. In such situations it is helpful to consult colleagues who have specialised in the respective areas. The Internet provides the opportunity to connect with other specialists that can be used for peer consulting. We argue that health professionals should learn to make use of online peer consulting during vocational training. We used an open-source platform that provided the opportunity to chat and upload documents. We recruited 45 first-year physiotherapy students as participants. The training for online peer consulting was integrated into courses where students were taught basic principles of gait analysis and learned how to document the findings of their examinations. Subsequently, the students evaluated the course and the online collaboration. Students were highly motivated to use the online platform and perceived the online peer consulting and the atmosphere of collaboration on the platform to be very positive. In addition, students had a significant increase in content knowledge and were more confident in their own knowledge than they were before the online peer consulting. It seems appropriate to provide training for giving and gathering online peer feedback. This opportunity, provided at an early stage of training, could help prepare students for continuing co-operative exchange in their professional lives. Health care professionals should learn how to gather information from colleagues and how to provide adequate feedback.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Many health care professionals specialise in particular medical fields. Nevertheless, they often encounter patients with other indications for which they have only limited experience. In such situations it is helpful to consult colleagues who have specialised in the respective areas. The Internet provides the opportunity to connect with other specialists that can be used for peer consulting. We argue that health professionals should learn to make use of online peer consulting during vocational training.
METHODS
We used an open-source platform that provided the opportunity to chat and upload documents. We recruited 45 first-year physiotherapy students as participants. The training for online peer consulting was integrated into courses where students were taught basic principles of gait analysis and learned how to document the findings of their examinations. Subsequently, the students evaluated the course and the online collaboration.
FINDINGS
Students were highly motivated to use the online platform and perceived the online peer consulting and the atmosphere of collaboration on the platform to be very positive. In addition, students had a significant increase in content knowledge and were more confident in their own knowledge than they were before the online peer consulting.
DISCUSSION
It seems appropriate to provide training for giving and gathering online peer feedback. This opportunity, provided at an early stage of training, could help prepare students for continuing co-operative exchange in their professional lives. Health care professionals should learn how to gather information from colleagues and how to provide adequate feedback.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
463-467Informations de copyright
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.
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