Erasmus Project BeEmTel – “Advancing Telemedicine for Non-Communicable Diseases

Introduction. The key topics of e-health are educationand training. The European Erasmus project BeEmTelaimed to create an innovative European curriculumdedicated to Telecare for chronic diseases and emergenciesthrough educational tools based on an e-learningplatform and on remote simulation techniques.Aim. To describe the experience regarding the introductionof an online telemedicine and telesimulationcourse applied to chronic diseases on some degreeand academic career courses.Methods. The online course has lasted from May 15,2023 to January 15, 2024, on the e-learning Moodleplatform managed by Simnova. The students’ populationcame from the nursing and medical faculties ordepartments of the four Partner Universities. The ecoursehas been structured into three sections: Non-Communicable Disease & Emergency, Health Simulation& Telecare, and New Forms of Proximity, withvideo lessons and resources, and a quiz area. Twoimmersive weeks have been reserved for a selectedgroup of students. For the evaluation of the e-learningplatform and the simulation method, we have referredto the first two levels of Donald Kirkpatrick’smodel: user feedback, linked to the student’s reactionand level of satisfaction with the educational activity,and learning content, concerning learning andknowledge assessment.Results. Among 394 participants, 38% have consistentlyattended the course, following a total of 57 theoretical lessons and 14 lectures using a telesimulation/telemedicine approach, and 31% haveresponded to the survey. Most of them have foundthe topics interesting (93.4%) and the lessons clear(81%), the platform interface has been considereduser-friendly, although with certain practical problems;91% of learners have been satisfied with thecourse overall. In terms of the two immersive weeks,all participating learners have been satisfied withthe general organization. When analyzing the measuresof association considering both degree courseand nationality, only one association was statisticallysignificant (“Do you think telemedicine coursesshould be integrated into your degree program?”, Chisquaredtest p-value=0.013).Conclusions. The BeEmTel Erasmus+ Project hasemerged as an innovative educational experience,effectively introducing the concept of telemedicineto healthcare students across different countriesand academic disciplines, irrespective of their previousbackground or attitudes. Students have demonstratedstrong receptiveness to this approach. Thestudent audience has found the type of instructionuseful in preparing for careers in the healthcare field.Notably, both in-person medical simulation and “telesimulation”have been proved to be effective pedagogicalpractices.