Bahawalpur Medical and Dental College, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Global Health Security, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States.
Front Public Health. 2022 Oct 11;10:888097. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.888097. eCollection 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in enormous increases in laboratory activities to keep pace with diagnostic testing and research efforts. However, traditional training, technical assistance, and capacity-building approaches were disrupted by the travel and movement restrictions put in place to control the spread of the disease. To address the needs of laboratorians and managers to conduct laboratory activities safely and securely during the pandemic, a highly interactive virtual training (IVT) workshop on biorisk management during COVID-19 was conducted through active learning strategies that connected speakers with participants. The objective of the training was to increase the basic knowledge and standards of biosafety and biosecurity practices, risk assessment, and control measures with reference specifically to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and apply a rigorous evaluation methodology to assess the effectiveness of the IVT. The training covered a broad range of topics and encompassed national to international guidelines.
Participants were selected through official channels at the national level, focusing on institutions within Pakistan. The sessions included lectures from international experts in biorisk management concepts, and incorporated poll questions as well as pre- and post-tests and feedback on the speakers' knowledge and presentation skills, to increase interactivity. The pre- and post-test comprised similar multiple-choice questions and provided to every participant to ascertain the impact of the training on awareness and knowledge of biorisk management topics and concepts, and results were compared using paired -tests. For feedback on the speakers, participants were asked to submit their ratings measured on a five-point Likert scale. The reliability of the Likert scale was estimated using Cronbach's alpha. Analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 23.
In total, 52 individuals from different laboratories across Pakistan and Pakistani students from abroad (China) as well participated in at least one session of the IVT. The participants' pre- and post-test scores showed a significant increase in knowledge and awareness ( < 0.001). The obtained Cronbach's alpha score was >0.8, indicating high reliability of the generated feedback on the IVT approach and speakers.
The IVT on biosafety and biosecurity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic proved beneficial for laboratory professionals and could be a useful model to continue in the future for raising awareness and knowledge.
COVID-19 大流行导致实验室活动大幅增加，以跟上诊断检测和研究工作的步伐。然而，由于为控制疾病传播而采取的旅行和流动限制，传统的培训、技术援助和能力建设方法受到了干扰。为了满足实验室人员和管理人员在大流行期间安全、有保障地开展实验室活动的需求，通过积极学习策略，举办了一场关于 COVID-19 期间生物风险管理的高度互动虚拟培训 (IVT) 研讨会，将演讲者与参与者联系起来。培训的目的是提高生物安全和生物安保实践、风险评估和控制措施的基本知识和标准，特别是参考 COVID-19 大流行的背景，并应用严格的评估方法来评估 IVT 的效果。培训涵盖了广泛的主题，包括国家和国际准则。
通过国家一级的官方渠道选择参与者，重点是巴基斯坦境内的机构。课程包括国际生物风险管理专家的讲座，并纳入民意测验问题以及培训前后测试，以评估演讲者的知识和演示技能，从而提高互动性。培训前后测试由类似的多项选择题组成，并提供给每位参与者，以确定培训对生物风险管理主题和概念的意识和知识的影响，并使用配对检验进行比较。为了评估演讲者，要求参与者在五点李克特量表上提交他们的评分。使用 Cronbach 的 alpha 估计李克特量表的可靠性。使用 Microsoft Excel 和 SPSS 版本 23 进行分析。
总共有来自巴基斯坦不同实验室的 52 人和在国外（中国）的巴基斯坦学生参加了至少一次 IVT。参与者的培训前后测试分数显示出知识和意识的显著提高（<0.001）。获得的 Cronbach 的 alpha 分数>0.8，表明对 IVT 方法和演讲者的反馈具有高度可靠性。
在 COVID-19 大流行背景下的生物安全和生物安保 IVT 对实验室专业人员是有益的，并且可以成为未来提高意识和知识的有用模式。
