Students opinion about E-Learning in a Master course in Interventional Radiology: a survey among participants

AIM: To evaluate the opinion of students about Tele-education in a post-graduate University Master in Interventional Radiology.

METHODS: The core curriculum of the Master is divided into 3 e-Learning modules and 2 e-Learning plus Hands-on Training modules. E-Learning is delivered through a webinar platform that allows to perform a synchronous training providing real-time lectures that are recorded for streaming on a dedicated website. The Hands-on Training is provided on site, assisting interventional radiologists in interventional procedures on patients. An online survey of 12 questions has been prepared to determine the quality of training. Students indicated their level of agreement regarding the impact of eLearning and Hands on Training using a 5-point scale. The mean score of the level of agreement was calculated.

RESULTS: The series include 16 participants. The 62.5% work in a public non-academic Hospital and 80% have already performed >300 interventional procedures as primary operator.

The main advantage of the eLearning module was considered the capability to facilitate the attendance to lectures (68.8%) followed by the low cost training (18.8%), with a good agreement between participants. No students scored the statements as less than 3. The Master fulfilled the learning expectations in 81.3% of cases with a good agreement between participants.

CONCLUSIONS: The participants were highly satisfied and would recommend the Master to other colleagues. The blended type of education of our Master received high appreciation and could be a model to be follow in the future, also in IR.