154570 Webinar Registration System: Building health informatics capability for distance learning in cultural competence training

Monday, November 5, 2007: 9:30 AM

Christiana Metzger, MA , Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Denise Bellows, BS, CHES , Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Chiehwen Ed Hsu, PhD, MPH , Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Bradley O. Boekeloo, PhD, MS , Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Goulda Downer, PhD , College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC
David Luckett , College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC
Ronald Lessard , College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC
The purpose of this project is to develop a Webinar Registration System to enhance and support the delivery of a federally-funded cultural competency education training module for health professionals provided through distance learning modality. The National Minority AIDS Education Training Center (NMAETC) is a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded grant to Howard University, located in Washington DC. The mission of the NMAETC is to train health care providers to increase their capacity to better care for HIV/AIDS among hard-to-reach, under-served minority populations. As a collaborator in this national initiative, the University of Maryland developed a system to complement Microsoft Live Meeting technology (i.e., “webinar”) in which Regional Performance Sites (RPS) can register for a webinar through a secure server, and complete/submit an Event Record (ER), electronically prior to a training event. Microsoft Live Meeting is selected as the online platform employed to conduct live meetings via the internet. Participants of educational events can choose to registrar for the online meeting and complete a Participant Information Form (PIF) which can be submitted online. In addition, the System creates host profiles for users of webinar training documentation. The feature also allows the host's personal information to be stored and used for future webinar sessions. In this way program documentation of each online event is collected and stored pursuant to HRSA requirements. In addition to the ER and PIF HRSA documents, additional registration forms were created to facilitate RPS registration. The implementation of the Webinar Registration System will potentially reduce data entry time and increase data accuracy, security and manageability. The pilot testing of Webinar registration system was well received. Further evaluation and usability testing are warranted to enhance the system's capacity.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe how information technology can be used to enhance the delivery of distance education addressing cultural competency of health professionals. 2. Identify potential methods for enhancing data accuracy, security and manageability of Web-facilitated educational training. 3. Evaluate alternative methods of Web-based data collection and email invitation/recruitment to participate in online education.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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