Teaching Adequate Prehospital Use of Personal Protective Equipment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development of a Gamified e-Learning Module

Abstract

Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to increased use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Adequate use of this equipment is more critical than ever because the risk of shortages must be balanced against the need to effectively protect health care workers, including prehospital personnel. Specific training is therefore necessary; however, the need for social distancing has markedly disrupted the delivery of continuing education courses. Electronic learning (e-learning) may provide significant advantages because it requires neither the physical presence of learners nor the repetitive use of equipment for demonstration. Objective Inclusion of game mechanics, or “gamification,” has been shown to increase knowledge and skill acquisition. The objective of this research was to develop a gamified e-learning module to interactively deliver concepts and information regarding the correct choice and handling of PPE. Methods The SERES framework was used to define and describe the development process, including scientific and design foundations. After we defined the target audience and learning objectives by interviewing the stakeholders, we searched the scientific literature to establish relevant theoretical bases. The learning contents were validated by infection control and prehospital experts. Learning mechanics were then determined according to the learning objectives, and the content that could benefit from the inclusion of game mechanics was identified. Results The literature search resulted in the selection and inclusion of 12 articles. In addition to gamification, pretesting, feedback, avoiding content skipping, and demonstrations using embedded videos were used as learning mechanics. Gamification was used to enhance the interactivity of the PPE donning and doffing sequences, which presented the greatest learning challenges. The module was developed with Articulate Storyline 3 to ensure that it would be compatible with a wide array of devices, as this software generates HTML5-compatible output that can be accessed on smartphones, tablets, and regular computers as long as a recent browser is available. Conclusions A gamified e-learning module designed to promote better knowledge and understanding of PPE use among prehospital health care workers was created by following the SERES framework. The impact of this module should now be assessed by means of a randomized controlled trial.

A Short Intervention Followed by an Interactive E-Learning Module to Motivate Medical Students to Enlist as First Responders: Protocol for a Prospective Implementation Study

“…E-learning is a generic term covering many different kinds of electronic teaching and learning materials [ 29 ]. Some e-learning methods have proven more successful than others, and enhanced interactivity has been postulated to increase learner engagement and knowledge acquisition [ 14 - 16 ]. The existing version of the e-learning module will therefore be adapted not only to comply to the COVID-19 guidelines [ 20 ], but also to improve its interactivity.…”

“…Given the high workload bearing upon junior medical students, and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a flexible approach based on an inverted classroom principle could prove successful. Distance learning through electronic learning (e-learning) methods has been shown to improve knowledge acquisition and user satisfaction and could efficiently promote engagement [ 14 - 16 ]. Such methods are particularly well adapted to the current context [ 17 ].…”

Effect of an E-Learning Module on Personal Protective Equipment Proficiency Among Prehospital Personnel: Web-Based Randomized Controlled Trial

“…A previously described gamified e-learning module created under Storyline 3 (Articulate Global) was used in this study [ 13 ]. The module contains 19 sections and embeds 7 video sequences.…”

“…The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a specifically designed gamified e-learning module [ 13 ] could improve the rate of adequate PPE choice by prehospital personnel in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hypothesis was that knowledge of PPE guidelines would be inconsistent between prehospital personnel, and that an e-learning module may increase and standardize knowledge regarding the use of PPE.…”

Impact of an e-learning module on personal protective equipment knowledge in student paramedics: a randomized controlled trial

“…This latter outcome was assessed by asking the participants to put elements of each of these sequences in the correct order. Access to the e-learning module [ 18 ] was only granted once all the questions had been completed.…”