Cureus (03/26/2024) Permashwar, Balichand; Mangru, Jagindra; Yu, Eric; et al.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a virtual lecture series helped physicians in the United States and Caribbean collaborate and share medical knowledge when in-person education was suspended. The Internal Medicine Learning Collaborative (IMLC) brought together providers in an underserved region of North Carolina and in low- and middle-income countries — specifically involving the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center and Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, both located in North Carolina, and the Guyana Medical Council and Ministry of Health and the University of the West Indies Medical Alumni Association in Jamaica. The monthly lecture series was free and ran from July 2021 to October 2022. An analysis of program data during that period found 1,105 unique participants in the 15 continuing education (CE) sessions. There was a cumulative total of 2,411 participants, including a mean session participation of 161 attendees. According to an outcome survey, the key factors in participation were the quality of the educational content (83.21%), the ease of access and Zoom platform (81.76%) and the lectures being offered free of charge (61.31%). In all, 80.84% of respondents said they made practice changes as a result of the knowledge they gained during the CE sessions. This collaborative learning model, the authors note, is cost-effective and valuable when such factors as travel and quarantine restrictions may limit learning. Additionally, they report the IMLC model "allows physicians with access to resources and specialty training in the United States to share medical knowledge with colleagues in the developing world where such access may be limited, thus promoting health care and continuing education activity in their respective regions using freely available technologies."

Read More