Abstract:

Breast cancer is a public health problem. The overall evidence indicates that 45% of new breast cancer cases occur in developing countries. Nowadays, 14 women die every day in Mexico because of this disease.

Since 2005, the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) of Mexico has developed successful online training experiences for health professionals using its educational model. Since 2008, the NIPH has been working with Tómatelo a Pecho foundation, for training more than 2,115 health professionals in early breast cancer detection, having a final efficiency rate of 83% and results assessed by the University of Harvard.

Due to these results, the NIPH developed a massive course on this subject aimed at physicians and nurses of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, in order to train 10,000 health professionals during 2014. On August 8, 2014, the course "Early detection and comprehensive management of breast cancer," was released. It was designed under a competency-based model using an innovative methodology to achieve the maximum learning of the participants. The educational strategy includes elements of the gamification theory and a user interface based on the learning cycle theories to engage participants during this 40 hours course. It has been organized in three modules based in the latest scientific evidence.

The efforts reflected on this paper show that there is reason to be optimistic as health systems around the world face the challenge of NCDs. These findings underscore the potential of involving Public Health Professionals (PHPs) and Community Heath Workers (CHWs) to address this growing challenge. In fact, lessons borne from this experience have already had far-reaching consequences; other states within Mexico, and even countries like Peru and China have already incorporated the same training model and are now working on strengthening national programs to face the challenge of chronic and non-communicable diseases.

The course has been implemented and the goal was achieved with 10,191 graduates. A pretest – posttest has been taken and the first results aim to be successful. We are currently analyzing the information.

Keywords:

Breast cancer, early detection, MOOC, competency based educational model, gamification, learning cycle, Mexico, INSP, IMSS.