Assessing webinar outcomes for health professionals: a perspective from Indonesia during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

PURPOSE: With the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health institutions and hospitals are increasingly relying on e-learning for continuing education. However, in many countries there is still limited data on the effectiveness of online learning particularly in the healthcare field. This study aims to evaluate whether webinar as a form of online educational intervention is satisfactory and effective for the continuing education of health professionals in Indonesia. METHODS: We collected participants’ demographic information including health profession, place of work, work unit, and year of graduation. There were six independent webinars included in this study. Webinar outcomes included satisfaction and learning scores. Regarding satisfaction, participants were told to complete a satisfaction survey and asked whether they would recommend the webinar to their colleagues. Regarding learning, information on their mean pre-test and post-test scores was collected. RESULTS: A total of 3,607 health professionals were enrolled, with the highest participation in webinars about emergency cases and COVID-19 management. The response towards satisfaction was overwhelmingly positive. In all six webinars, post-test scores were statistically significantly higher than pre-test scores. Recently graduated physicians scored higher in learning than senior physicians, while place of work and work unit did not significantly affect the scores. CONCLUSION: The use of webinar for health professionals training in Indonesia was well-received amid the ongoing pandemic. In the future, health institutions and teaching hospitals should optimize the implementation of webinar training as it is associated with low cost, high flexibility, and less time commuting.