Abstract:

Introduction:
Continuous medical education (CME) plays a key role in improving the competences of adult learners active in the medical field. Evidence shows that active learning techniques, multiple exposures to content as well as longer time for better penetration of what is learnt, with a variety of instructional strategies can lead to improve clinical competence and performance. CME and Higher Education (HE) concur when providing postgraduate programs for specialists that may need to adapt their curricula to emerging educational needs. In this framework, ODISSeA project, Organ Donation Innovative Strategies for Southeast Asia (SEA) proposes to provide such an educational intervention to 8 universities from Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, in line with the European Higher Education Area and Bologna process & measure its impact.

Methods:
The project proposes an educational process that follows the conceptual framework in CME. It consists on 3 related interphases: planning, instructional design & assessment. Population health data was analysed in the region, gaps in clinical practice identified & learning needs assessed. These data are used to plan learning activities in format of cascade training at 2 levels. The first level focuses on training local trainers (TxT) from 8 universities from SEA to acquire the core & non-technical competences, medical & educational, necessary to implement the second level of training: a pilot Postgraduate Program on Organ Donation. Both training levels employ a variety of instructional strategies & techniques through blended learning methodology. The postgraduate program lasts a full academic year including online training, in-situ face to face seminars, on-the-job improvements projects & awareness events. The learning activities will follow 3 degrees of difficulty: Level 1 awareness, Level 2 medium & Level 3 high. This approach will facilitate a progressive advance & better retention. A continuous assessment system is proposed at both levels. At the level of the postgraduate program performance assessment is also considered & will evaluate what learners adapt to their practice through guided on-the-job improvement projects. Impact analysis will be carried to measure the educational intervention in different periods. Quality control monitoring actions will be proposed to detect any shortcomings & guarantee the excellence of the educational program.

Results:
The gaps in the SEA region highlight the need of a solid framework for deceased organ donation with improved legislation, healthcare reform & education. A two-level cascade educational program is being designed. The first level addresses a total of 40 local trainers from 8 SEA universities to be trained through TxT. 40 future learners will be identified & invited together with their local trainers to be involved in the design & development the postgraduate program, with European experts. The postgraduate program will target 280 students from the 8 SEA universities.
We expect significant changes in the performance assessment and qualitative analysis in terms of competence transfer & impact, from learning to clinical practice.

Conclusion:
ODISSeA comes to meet the needs identified in deceased organ donation in the SEA region. It proposes an educational intervention in line with the latest evidence in CME and the European Higher Education Area & Bologna process. Beneficiaries will improve their competences and hopefully clinical practice.

Keywords:

e-learning, train the trainers, blended.