Designing and evaluating an online open-access Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) e-Learning for healthcare educators.

Introduction: Diversity among undergraduate medical students, postgraduate trainees and NHS staff is increasing. Unfortunately, students and staff from diverse backgrounds experience harassment and bullying from teaching staff, patients and peers (1). Diversity training can contribute to developing inclusive educational environments and workplaces. Limited time for in-person training for clinical teachers led us to develop an award-winning multi-institutional eLearning innovation for undergraduate and postgraduate teachers that promotes the “democratisation” of education (2). <br/><br/>Methods: Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and Ulster University (UU) medical schools and the Northern Ireland Medical &amp; Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA) co-developed the training with a medical student and NIMDTA’s International Medical Ambassador. Content was developed from student and trainee lived experiences and portrayed subtle, nuanced exclusions in the clinical environment and hidden curriculum. The training aimed to promote awareness of unconscious biases through self-reflection and awareness of unintentional exclusion with strategies to challenge these. It was hosted on an open-access healthcare training platform, with built-in feedback forms, certificates of completion and a reflective booklet. <br/><br/>Results: Following a successful pilot of the training, to December 2024, 541 people from 33 disciplines (clinical and non-clinical) have completed the training. Training was accessed in 15 countries with 94.3% of participants based in the UK, with the majority (60.7%) doctors. Feedback was provided by 280 participants using Likert Scales (1=lowest, 5=highest). The average rating was 4.504/5 (90.1%). Highest scored were video scenarios 4.586/5 (92.0%), followed by the reflective questions 4.439/5 (88.8%) and didactic training 4.407/51 (88.1%). Training caused average participant knowledge to increase significantly (x̄= 38.84%, t=22.71, p&lt;0.05). Qualitative feedback identified the authenticity of the scenarios as a strength and requested biannual updates to the training to supplement the original. <br/><br/>Discussion: Asynchronous diversity training can be successfully delivered online that provides flexibility around professionals’ busy schedules and accessibility through open-access platforms. <br/><br/>References 1. Woolf, K. 2020. Differential attainment in medical education and training. bmj, 368. 2. Hassall C, Lewis DI. Institutional and technological barriers to the use of open educational resources (OERs) in physiology and medical education. Advances in Physiology Education. 2017;41(1):77-81.