Hussein Rand, He Zhoushanyue, Bareham Julia, Patel Tejal, Killeen Rosemary, Grindrod Kelly
School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Pharmacy (Basel). 2022 Jan 1;10(1):8. doi: 10.3390/pharmacy10010008.
Computer-based education has been widely implemented in healthcare professional development education. However, there has been little examination of the potential for computer-based education to enhance pharmacists' knowledge. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of computer-based education on improving pharmacists' knowledge compared to printed education material.
This study was a web-based randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly allocated to either an intervention group where they had access to the computer-based education module on Pharmacy5in5.ca or to a control group where they had access to printed educational material. Knowledge gain was assessed using a pre- and post-knowledge test.
A total of 120 pharmacists were recruited and 101 completed the post-knowledge test (50/60 in the intervention group; 51/60 in the control group). Both groups showed a significant increase in knowledge gain (intervention group: pre-test mean score 19.35 ± 3.56, post-test mean score 22.42 ± 3.812, value < 0.001; control group pre-test mean score 19.22 ± 3.45, post-test mean score 23.29 ± 3.087, value < 0.001). However, the difference in knowledge change was not significant between the two groups (22.42 vs. 23.29, value = 0.333).
In this study, a computer-based education module enhanced pharmacists' knowledge to a similar degree to printed education material. Efforts should be made to provide computer-based education as an option to support pharmacists' professional development.
基于计算机的教育已在医疗保健专业人员发展教育中广泛实施。然而，对于基于计算机的教育增强药剂师知识的潜力，几乎没有进行过研究。本研究旨在评估与印刷教育材料相比，基于计算机的教育在提高药剂师知识方面的有效性。
本研究是一项基于网络的随机对照试验。参与者被随机分配到干预组，他们可以访问Pharmacy5in5.ca上的基于计算机的教育模块，或者分配到对照组，他们可以获得印刷教育材料。使用知识前测和后测来评估知识增益。
共招募了120名药剂师，101名完成了知识后测（干预组50/60；对照组51/60）。两组的知识增益均有显著增加（干预组：前测平均得分19.35±3.56，后测平均得分22.42±3.812，P值<0.001；对照组前测平均得分19.22±3.45，后测平均得分23.29±3.087，P值<0.001）。然而，两组之间的知识变化差异不显著（22.42对23.29，P值=0.333）。
在本研究中，基于计算机的教育模块在增强药剂师知识方面与印刷教育材料的程度相似。应努力提供基于计算机的教育作为支持药剂师专业发展的一种选择。
