Bringing the Pediatric Endocrine Spanish Speaking Community Together: First Virtual Pediatric Endocrine Meeting in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in Central and South America (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Pediatric endocrine care is often performed by pediatricians in Central America and Caribbean countries due to limited number of pediatric endocrinologists. These health care providers are seldom members of endocrine societies and frequently lack formal training in pediatric endocrinology. OBJECTIVE To describe the scope of a virtual meeting in pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes between low- and middle-resources countries, aimed to reduce access barriers due to cost and time and to provide equal opportunities for continuous medical education regardless of resources available. METHODS The virtual conference was sponsored by the Pediatric Endocrine Society (North America), Asociación Costarricense de Endocrinología (ASCEND, previously Asociación Nacional Pro Estudio de la Diabetes, Endocrinología y Metabolismo - ANPEDEM) and Asociacion CentroAmericana y del Caribe de Endocrinologia pediátrica (ACCEP). The conference was free to participants, and delivered 23 sessions that were either synchronous with ability for real-time interactive sessions or asynchronous sessions (Vimeo®), where content was available online for the participants to access at their convenience. Topics included idiopathic short stature, polycystic ovarian syndrome, diabetes, telemedicine, Turner syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, obesity, central precocious puberty, and subclinical hypothyroidism. RESULTS Eight speakers from Spain, Canada, Costa Rica and USA delivered the virtual event to 667 health care professionals from Guatemala, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, USA, Bolivia, Chile, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Belize, Spain and Colombia. Name, profession, and country were fully disclosed by 410 of the 668 health care professionals. The profession/level of training of participants were: pediatric endocrinologists (n = 129); pediatricians (n = 116); general practitioners (n = 77); adult endocrinologists (n = 34); medical students (n = 23); residents in various specialties (n = 14); others (n = 17). A total of 23 sessions were offered, most of which were bilingual (Spanish and English). CONCLUSIONS Virtual meeting format is an emerging tool that can contribute to the advancement of medical education, reduce access gaps as well as promote networking events. Online availability, low cost and low technical complexity access to digital platforms could promote continuing medical education.