CardioGuide: Lessons Learned One Year After Implementing an Online, Competency-Based Continuing Professional Development Curriculum for Cardiology

Atul Jaidka, Daniel Durocher, Pavel Antiperovitch

Disclosures

Disclosures

  • “I have not in the past 2 years, had a financial interest, arrangement or affiliation with one or more organizations that could be perceived as a direct/indirect conflict of interest in the content of the subject of this or any other program.” -Atul Jaidka

Conflict of Interest

  • None except I co-created CardioGuide along with Pavel Antiperovitch and Daniel Durocher

Funding

  • Self-funded
  • Grant received but funds yet to be used from Western University CPD program

Rationale

Rationale

  • Competency by design is becoming standard practice in medical education
  • Current educational programs in Cardiology are limited by:
    • Cost
    • Wide breadth of the field
    • Rapid changes in clinical practice guidelines
  • Current Cardiology education for IM residents depends on in-person teaching during academic half days, morning teaching, and ad-hoc teaching by fellows and staff which is limited by:
    • Infection risk
    • Vacations
    • Lack formal curriculum

Curriculum

Program Design

  • Curriculum based on the competency-based continuing professional development framework (CB-CPD) recommended by the Royal College
  • Key principles:
    • Data to identify learning needs
    • Opportunities for self directed learning
    • Innovative methods for providing feedback
  • Creation of content and assessments used the Royal College Cardiology objectives for Internal Medicine residents

Implementation

  • Content delivery: free, mobile friendly open-access website 
    • Summarizes lengthy guidelines into practical summaries using graphics and visual aids
    • CardioGuide.ca
  • Competency assessment: peer-reviewed case-based questions 
    • Provides direct feedback with a learning plan
    • eval.CardioGuide.ca

Lessons Learned

Importance of Data

Benefits of Open Access

  • July 2020: 590 users and 1764 page views
  • September 2021: 2316 users and 4309 page views

Benefits

of Open

Access

Benefits of Open Access

  • Reach across Canada

Automation of Administration

  • Admin dashboard that includes automated email introduction/reminders and easy to generate reports to track completions or those that need help

Future Directions

Future Directions

  • CardioGuide for IM residents at Western - IMGuide
  • Other Canadian schools are considering, beta-testing CardioGuide
  • Planned collaborations with National Cardiology organizations to develop CPD
  • CPD programs for Royal College certified physicians to obtain MOC credits as part of a Western University Continuing Professional Development grant
  • Research platform for medical education insights

Conclusion

Conclusion

  • Era of increasing patient volumes and a pandemic, trainees report a significant deficit in teaching
  • We created a novel CB-CPD based program delivered through a FOAMed website for content and a quiz platform for standardized assessments
  • Curriculum decay is a major concern in educational endeavours, thus to ensure longevity we focused on data to keep improving content/delivery, open access principles to allow for organic growth and automated administration so curriculum doesn't stop depending on busy schedules

Questions?