Using blended learning to improve education on clinical pathways for breast cancer management in Nigeria: Preliminary results.

Abstract

10539 Background: Most Nigerian clinicians lack adequate skills and resources in screening, diagnosis, and managing women with breast cancer. The absence of locally-sensitive clinical pathways in hospitals in Abia State impact patient outcomes and clinicians job satisfaction. Blended learning (BL), a combination of online and face-to-face teaching methods, has been used in other settings to improve the competencies of clinicians. Research seeks to develop and evaluate a BL course that will train clinicians in Abia State on using NCCN breast cancer management guidelines, and to develop and implement locally-sensitive clinical pathways. Methods: The course is divided into four online modules delivered via Google Classroom and a workshop module to be delivered in 3 cities. Course evaluation involves an objective-focused method, following a mixed-methods design. Data collection includes pre-and-post-tests, course evaluation and focus group discussions. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and t-test. Comments deductively analyzed to identify common themes. A sample size of 107 individuals is required to identify a moderate effect size for the BL course. Results: Forty-three participants (physicians=15, Nurses=28) have been recruited for cohort 1, with average age of 44 (±9.9) years. Most participants have never taken an online class (65%) but use mobile phones (60%) to access the course. With a maximum of 20 points in each test, there is a pattern of improvement in the post-tests performance compared with the pre-tests. Table shows mean scores. Most participants have expressed satisfaction with the course. Conclusions: Results show improvement in learning. More participants are being recruited. The workshops will hold at after the online modules.[Table: see text]