Teaching from afar: The online "International Program in Occupational Health Practice" for eduction in low-resource countries

BACKGROUND: Globally, capacities in Occupational Safety & Health (OH) are very limited or not available. Obstacles include lack of in-country training programs and cost of training. Companies and governments often employ OH personnel with no formal training. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared OSH training in low-resource countries a priority. Via the internet we can reach this target audience. This training program is designed for occupational health service providers in company clinics, insurances or governments without prior formal training. It aims at teaching competencies to introductory to medium level, focusing on practical, immediately usable skills for injury and illness prevention. METHODS: Three on-line, asynchronous, instructor led courses of ten or eight weeks equating to total 340 learning hours. Faculty is practicing physicians from four countries with living or teaching experience in developing countries and in a variety of industrial settings. Bi-weekly modules provide readings and practical exercises with checklists, report or photos in English. Participants return assignments in French, Spanish, German and Italian. Instructor feedback, group discussions, wikis and blogs provide an environment for interactive learning. RESULTS: Twenty participants from 16 countries: Asia 25%, Africa 10%, Latin Americas 35%, Central Americas & Caribbean 25%. Course completed by 17 of 18 participants. Competency-based monitoring of learning impact. Feedback indicates good acceptance and high impact. However, impact varies with topic area and immediate applicability of content. DISCUSSION: Challenges include cultural diversity of learning styles, poor internet connections, prohibitive cost of books and shipping, inherent limits of online delivery mode.