Learning a new platform and creating content for learners on it can be overwhelming. Don't worry! We got you. This guide focuses on having the requirements checked out and putting together all the prerequisite documentation available so you can seamlessly build your surgical training modules.
Before diving into the checklist, we want to discuss some terminologies that we will be continuously using throughout our guides. They are as follows:
- Content / Module Creators - Content / Module Creators are teams, organizations or surgeons that create these learning modules. They are skilled professionals who will provide information, simulations tools & assessment tools for learners to learn these skills through appropedia.
- Learners - Learners (or the Learning group) are the users of these training modules. These are people who use these training sessions to acquire the skills remotely and use them on patients. There are two types of learners the modules will be focusing on depending on training modules and learner skill set, they are:
- Surgical Learners - If the modules you build are focused on surgical training, then the learners will be surgical learners.
- Prehospital Trauma Learners - Prehospital Trauma Learners will be the learners being trained on prehospital hemorrhage management by the given modules.
Some examples of these learner groups would be medical professionals, on-site volunteers at medical camps, emergency staff, nursing staff, etc.
- Evaluators - Evaluators are 3rd party clinical professionals in clinical facilities in Low or Middle Income Countries ("Evaluation Site") that will help identify learners on the basis of learner description and provide them with the right resources to do learning and assessment of provided surgical training modules. This group is mostly focused on GSTC finalists for their module evaluation and it is not necessary for every content creator to partner with evaluation sites.
Now that we know what terminologies we will be using for the guides in our toolbox. Let's dive into a checklist that we have created for you ease into the process of building your training modules.
Learner's Description[edit | edit source]
Before you start working on the training module, the first question you should ask yourself is who will be the learners of this module?
Having a clear picture of the user persona or learner's description will be useful in creating the training module in terms of content, tools and assessment. Some factors that can be considered while creating a learner description can be age, skillset, demographic, surgical background, clinical expertise/training/practice, medical specialization, language proficiency, etc. This shows that the key to creating good learner descriptions or user personas is attention to detail. Here are some links that can be useful to think along the lines of creating user personas.
When it comes to surgical and clinical skills, our learner's have to be more specific to identify the group that we are training. Some examples of surgical and prehospital trauma learners would be as follows.
- Example Surgical Learner specification: Learners could be community surgeons or surgical residents from a specialty that does not include the target surgical procedure in its traditional training such as orthopaedic, general surgery or GYN residents/community surgeons learning a plastics procedure or plastics or general surgery residents/community surgeons learning an orthopaedic procedure.
- Example Prehospital Trauma Learner specification: Learners could be community members or first responders with no previous training or field experience in hemorrhage control.
Here is a guide on how to make a learner description.
Required Time[edit | edit source]
Identifying the amount of time in the number of hours or days can help the learners to know how much effort they need to put into the module to effectively learn the skills in the training module. It is effective if the number of hours are mentioned in required time so learners can manage them accordingly with their work schedule.
For example, a module requires 10 hours to learn the skillset and build a simulated surgical environment. We understand that in cases of emergency trauma learning modules, this may not be a parameter to focus on. However, in other scenarios it can come in handy.
Required Tools / Equipment[edit | edit source]
Since the aim of the surgical training module is to make simulation-based surgical training accessible through low-cost, open-source training modules, it is essential that you have a list of tools / equipment that will be needed for these clinical processes. While listing the tools / equipment you also have to keep in mind these have to be available and accessible to your learners on the basis of their demographics.
For example, on of our modules Airway Management has listed the following the equipment required to learn the module: Prehospital PPE, EMS Jump Bag, CPR Pocket Mask, Airway Manikin, Nasal Cannula, Non-Rebreather Mask, Nasopharyngeal Airways, Oropharyngeal Airways, Battery Operated Suction Unit, Bag Valve Mask, Oxygen tank with regulator
Simulations[edit | edit source]
In order to provide surgical trainings online, the content creators should provide the learners with simulations of the environment they need to be able to practice the learning. These simulations can be in the form of hardware or software based applications to understand the procedures.
As the world is growing, virtual simulations of surgical training have become very common using virtual reality, augmented reality or mobile phone apps. If you have software simulations that you want the user to access, make sure that they are available to access for users through all platforms.
To learn more about how to build these applications, what platforms to use and what to consider while providing training to the learners, refer to this guide.
Review of topics for learning a module[edit | edit source]
Having a list of review topics and linking them to the right resources will help learners to be able to refer to concepts that they might have forgotten, missed or have blurred memory of. This will allow learner to stay in your module and not wander off while finding the information over web.
Here is an example of one of our modules that have added a review document in their coursework.
Pre Module Assessment[edit | edit source]
Pre Module assessment is to confirm that the learner is eligible for taking the training module. This may be simulation based, questionnaire based, or use another instrument of the Team's choosing for assessment. If a learner fails to pass the pre-module assessment then they will be deemed ineligible to take clinical assessments.
An example of pre module assessment by ETALO Bone Drilling can be found here
Post Module Assessment[edit | edit source]
Just like the pre-module assessment, the content creators must also design a post-module self assessment for the learners to identify how much they have learned. In an ideal scenario, providing case-based assessment can help learners to perform self taught clinical skill under observation of an expert clinical Evaluator. These assessments will allow the learners to get confidence and review of their learning with additional materials if their score is average or below.
Here is an example by Crash Savers on how to provide learners with a case by case assessment guide to evaluate their learning through the training.
