A scoping review of undergraduate ambulatory care education

Background E-learning technologies, including mobile apps, are used to a large extent in health care education. Mobile apps can provide extendable learning environments and motivate students for adaptive and collaborative learning outside the classroom context. Developers should design practical, effective, and easy-to-use mobile apps. Usability testing is an important part of app development in order to understand if apps meet the needs of users. Objective The aim of this study is to perform a scoping review of usability methods and attributes reported in usability studies of mobile apps for health care education. Methods The scoping review is guided by the methodological framework developed by Arksey & O’Malley and further developed by Levac et al and Kahlil et al. The stages we will follow are as follows: (1) identifying the research question; (2) identifying relevant studies; (3) selecting studies; (4) charting the data; and (5) summarizing and reporting the results. We have developed two research questions to meet the aim of the study, which are as follows: (1) What usability methods are used to evaluate the usability of mobile apps for health care education? and (2) What usability attributes are reported in the usability studies of mobile apps for health care education? We will apply a comprehensive search of the literature, including 10 databases, a reference search, and a search for grey literature. Two review authors will independently screen articles for eligibility. Results The initial electronic database searches were completed in March 2019. The literature search identified 14,297 unique references. Following title and abstract screening, the full texts of 369 records were obtained. The scoping review is expected to be completed in spring 2021. Conclusions We expect the overview of usability methods and attributes reported in usability studies of mobile apps for health care education to contribute to the knowledge base for researchers and developers. It will give an overview of the research field and provide researchers and developers with relevant and important information on the usability research area, including highlighting possible research gaps. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/19072

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Emergency care education in South Africa and the unique requirement of physical preparedness: A scoping review

Australasian Journal of Paramedicine ◽

10.33151/ajp.18.878 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 ◽

Author(s):

Dagmar Muhlbauer ◽

Craig Vincent-Lambert ◽

Yoga Coopoo

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Emergency Care ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Knowledge Gap ◽

Care Education ◽

Narrative Literature Review ◽

Task Oriented

Introduction The Bachelor Degree in Emergency Medical Care (BEMC) is a unique program in that students operate in both emergency care and rescue contexts, unlike international paramedic degree programs which focus only on emergency care. The learning activities associated with the rescue content are physically strenuous and therefore BEMC students need to be physically and mentally prepared to engage in diverse austere environments. Although South African BEMC programs have a common medical rescue curriculum, approaches to the training and assessment of physical preparedness vary between the institutions. The objective of this research was to explore the knowledge gap through the review of literature that describes the unique physical preparedness requirements in the field of emergency care education. Methods We conducted a scoping review in the form of a narrative literature review. Results Seventy-five (n) articles were initially identified, however, only four were relevant to the objective of this study. This highlighted the paucity of literature describing the unique physical fitness requirements of the BEMC program and the current challenges experienced by educators in the field. Conclusion While physical preparedness training exists in higher education institutes and there are assessments conducted at these higher education institutes, none of these assessment tools have yet been scientifically validated which creates a challenge for educators. The current knowledge gap within EMC education is therefore the absence of a scientifically validated task-oriented physical preparedness assessment tool which addresses the desired physical attributes and abilities of EMC students linked to the BEMC curriculum and associated learning experiences.

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