Knowledge base and effectiveness of online continuing education about foreign animal diseases for equine veterinarians.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of two different methods of online education using the knowledge base of African horse sickness (AHS) among US equine veterinarians as a model. An e-mail was sent to US veterinary members of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), inviting them to participate in a complementary online educational opportunity. We determined participants' baseline knowledge of AHS by their responses in an AHS case scenario. Participants were then randomly assigned to either a Webinar module or a text-formatted module, followed by an educational assessment quiz. Educational effectiveness was measured by considering the difference between the educational assessment quiz score and the baseline knowledge score. Of the 5,394 members from the AAEP list, 309 veterinarians agreed to participate, but only 211 completed the entire study. The median baseline knowledge score from the case scenario was 20 out of a perfect score of 100 points. The median assessment quiz score after the participants had access to the AHS educational material was 90, which was significantly higher than the baseline knowledge score (p=.01). Educational effectiveness in the module formats showed no significant difference (p=.81). Results from this study suggest that online education modules, once accessed, may improve participants' knowledge of veterinary diseases.
Publication Date: 2013-03-12 PubMed ID: 23475415DOI: 10.3138/jvme.0612-056RGoogle Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- African Horse Sickness
- Diagnosis
- Disease control
- Disease Diagnosis
- Disease Etiology
- Disease Management
- Disease Outbreaks
- Disease Prevention
- Disease Surveillance
- Disease Transmission
- Disease Treatment
- Education
- Equine Diseases
- Equine Health
- Infectious Disease
- Survey Study
- Veterinary Care
- Veterinary Medicine
- Veterinary Research
- Veterinary Science
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
This study presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of online educational methodologies in enhancing the competency of equine veterinarians concerning African horse sickness (AHS). The evidence demonstrates a significant improvement in AHS knowledge following the participation in online training, regardless of the module format employed.
Methodology and Participants
- The study was conducted among US equine veterinarians who were part of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP).
- An invitation was sent to these veterinarians to partake in a free online educational program about AHS, a condition relevant to their field.
- From a total of 5,394 AAEP members, 309 agreed to participate in the study, but only 211 completed the entire research process.
Research Design and Tools
- Participants’ initial knowledge of AHS was measured through a case scenario, giving a baseline knowledge score.
- Following this initial assessment, the participants were randomly divided into two groups. One group was subjected to an online seminar (webinar) module, while the other was given a text-format module.
- After the completion of their respective educational module, participants were again evaluated on their AHS knowledge through an educational quiz. The scores obtained in this assessment were used to determine the effectiveness of the educational intervention.
- The effectiveness was thus defined as the difference between the post-module quiz score and the pre-module baseline score.
Results and Conclusions
- According to the results, the baseline knowledge score for AHS was quite low (20 out of 100).
- Post-education, the median score substantially increased to 90 out of 100, indicating a significant improvement of AHS knowledge following the training (p=.01).
- No significant difference was observed in the educational effect between the webinar and text-formatted modules (p=.81).
- These results suggest the potential effectiveness of online educational modules in enhancing the knowledge base of veterinarians about diseases pertinent to their field.
Cite This Article
APA
Wiedenheft AM, Traub-Dargatz JL, Gillette SC, O'Keefe GJ, Rao S, Salman MD.
(2013).
Knowledge base and effectiveness of online continuing education about foreign animal diseases for equine veterinarians.
J Vet Med Educ, 40(1), 69-75.
https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.0612-056R Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA. Alyson.Wiedenheft@colostate.edu
MeSH Terms
- African Horse Sickness / diagnosis
- African Horse Sickness / epidemiology
- African Horse Sickness / etiology
- African Horse Sickness / therapy
- Animals
- Education, Continuing / methods
- Education, Distance / methods
- Education, Veterinary / methods
- Educational Measurement
- Horses
- Knowledge Bases
- Random Allocation
- Veterinarians / psychology
Citations
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