Development and evaluation of an e-learning course in oxygen therapy

BACKGROUND: Respiratory problems are among the most challenging situations in emergency care services. Different oxygen therapy methods are usually used to deal with these problems. In recent years, oxygen therapy has been recognized as one of the most widely used therapeutic processes in emergency departments (ED) mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an e-learning course in oxygen therapy for the ED clinicians. METHODS: This was a pre-post study conducted in three phases in 2021. Initially, the educational requirements of clinicians (n = 181) were investigated using a questionnaire, and in the second phase, an interactive e-learning course was developed. In the third phase, the course was assessed in terms of maintaining the principles of developing an e-learning course, affecting participants’ knowledge, and supporting usability requirements. RESULTS: The findings revealed that training in oxygen therapy was essential for the ED clinicians. Therefore, an e-learning course was developed. The content production experts and the participants evaluated the content and usability of the online course at a good level. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between the nurses’ (p < 0.001) and general practitioners’ (p < 0.002) pre- and post-test scores suggesting that the course improved their knowledge. CONCLUSION: It seems that the e-learning course developed in the current study can improve health care professionals’ knowledge and quality of care. However, more evaluation studies are needed to investigate the effectiveness of the course for other clinicians, such as nurses who work in intensive care units.