Training Platform for Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Image by Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator, CC BY 2.5
Description
As part of the National Healthcare system, the Edinburgh Community Pulmonary Rehabilitation team is tasked with delivering high quality care, engaging on promoting public health and improving self-management. The Pulmonary Rehabilitation team, based in Leith, has been running since 2008 and receives annually over 650 referrals for Lothian-based individuals living with chronic lung conditions.
The main aim of this project is to develop an interactive, web-based educational platform that can be used as a preparation tool for students attending the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team for their placement. The system will provide the knowledge and facilities to guide the student through interactive case studies and quizzes. The longer term aim will be to expand such a platform to make it available and relevant to other professionals working on respiratory conditions or for professionals looking to move in a respiratory post.
Outcomes
I co-supervised 2 MSc students who worked closely with the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team. The first student developed the design of the learning platform, including novel teaching features, flexible navigation, interactivity, etc. The second student investigated the appropriateness of using WordPress for the backend and frontend implementation of the educational platform, including the applicability of different educational plugins, and including practical considerations such as privacy, anonymity, flexibility, etc.
They both had several meetings and contextual interviews in order to gather requirements and discuss the available training data. They developed design and implementation prototypes, incorporating learning material provided by the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team, such as text, images, quizzes, scenarios, etc. They performed a rigorous, small-scale evaluation of their prototypes with different members of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team, including a student who had already completed their placement. The prototypes have been handed off to the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team for further development and deployment.