WEBINARS AS A TOOL FOR GERIATRIC EDUCATION: OUTCOMES OF A WEBINAR SERIES ON DEMENTIA CARE

Abstract

Stanford Geriatric Education Center (SGEC) offered a series of 15 webinars (short for web-based seminar) titled “State of the Science: Dementia Evaluation and Management Among Diverse Older Adults and Their Families” in 2013. Stellar speakers from neurology, psychiatry, psychology and family medicine covered a range of topics in dementia care. Targeting providers working with diverse elders and their families, SGEC was able to present the contents interactively and in real time, and extend the ‘reach’ of this training to more new and diverse audiences. A total of 1,163 participants from 29 U.S. states and representing 28 disciplines participated in the webinars. 30% of participants indicated that they work in Medically Underserved Communities, 17% works in a rural area, 70% works with ethnic minority patients and around 40% works with non-English speaking patients on a daily basis. Post webinar survey results show that over 90% of respondents reported increase in their knowledge and skills in the training topic. In addition, 98% of participants in each webinar indicated that they plan to either apply the information or skills learned in their work setting or, implement or advocate at least one patient/service improvement. Each webinar has since been archived and made available on the SGEC YouTube channel and has received 38,757 views from 159 countries as of May 2016. In conclusion, this was a successful geriatric education program, evidenced by its broad reach and endurance of the webinar presentations. The challenge lies in improving the response rate for post webinar surveys.