A roadmap for the development and evaluation of the eHealthResp online course

BACKGROUND: Inappropriate antibiotic use constitutes one of the most concerning public health issues, being one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance. Hence, to tackle this issue, it is important to encourage the development of educational interventions for health practitioners, namely by using digital health tools. This study focuses on the description of the development and validation process of the eHealthResp online course, a web platform directed to physicians and pharmacists, with the overall goal of improving antibiotic use for respiratory tract infections, along with the assessment of its usability. METHODS: The eHealthResp platform and the courses, developed with a user-centered design and based on Wordpress and MySQL, were based on a previously developed online course. A questionnaire to assess the usability was distributed among physicians (n = 6) and pharmacists (n = 6). Based on the obtained results, statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the usability score and appraise the design of the online course, as well as to compare the overall scores attributed by both groups. Further qualitative comments provided by the participants have also been analyzed. RESULTS: The eHealthResp contains two online courses directed to physicians and pharmacists aiming to aid in the management of respiratory tract infections. The average usability score of the eHealthResp online courses for physicians and pharmacists was of 78.33 (±11.57, 95%CI), and 83.75 (±15.90, 95%CI), respectively. Qualitative feedback emphasized the usefulness of the course, including overall positive reviews regarding user-friendliness and consistency. CONCLUSIONS: This study led us to conclude that the eHealthResp online course is not recognized as a complex web platform, as both qualitative and quantitative feedback obtained were globally positive.