Experiences in Teaching and Learning
Effects of Ebola Virus Disease education on student health professionals

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Abstract

Background and purpose

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal illness. Studies have shown that healthcare professionals lack an in-depth knowledge of EVD. Countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa are beginning to emphasize the need to train healthcare professionals about EVD, but the United States still lacks formal training for healthcare students. There is little research about the effectiveness of EVD training to support this study. The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge-base and attitudes of healthcare students concerning EVD.

Educational activity and setting

Two-hundred sixty-nine participants (including pharmacy students, physician assistant students, and nursing students) completed a pre- and post-survey. The survey measured both knowledge and perceptions. The post-survey was administered after the intervention to measure change. The intervention was comprised of a pre-recorded lecture about EVD transmission, prevention, and treatment.

Findings

All groups displayed significant changes in knowledge and perception, specifically in the areas of EVD transmission, prevention, and treatment. Pharmacy students’ attitudes increased significantly over their baseline score for all three attitude questions, whereas there were no significant changes in attitude to EVD among nurses. Physician assistant students’ attitudes changed regarding the topic of isolation.

Discussion

Education on EVD in pharmacy schools may provide beneficial results for students’ knowledge, and it may also help schools provide evidence to meet current standards for accreditation.

Summary

This educational intervention represents an effective format that could be a useful tool to help enhance or augment knowledge for healthcare workers. This could lead to better care for patients.

Section snippets

Background and purpose

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), also known as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever or simply Ebola, is a fatal disease. Ebola virus outbreaks are found sporadically in many African countries.1 EVD is transmitted through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids, contaminated objects, or infected animals. EVD symptoms can appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to EVD and include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and unexplained hemorrhage.1 There is no current vaccine for EVD, and standard

Design

Due to the design and scope of this study, it was granted exempt status by the Shenandoah University IRB committee. The study consisted of a cross-sectional survey and a training intervention. The survey was administered pre- and post-intervention to measure the effect of training on the participant's knowledge and perception of EVD. A total of 550 students (390 pharmacy students, 110 nursing students, 50 physician assistant students) were eligible to complete the pre- and post-survey. The

Findings

Of the 550 eligible students, 269 participants completed a questionnaire, including 221 pharmacy students, 22 physician assistant students, and 26 nursing students (response rate 48.9%). Table 1 shows students’ characteristics by disciplines. Compared to pharmacy students and physician assistant students, there were significantly fewer male nursing students (p < 0.01). When compared by age, there were no significant differences between pharmacy students, physician assistant students, and

Discussion

Knowledge about how EVD is transmitted and treated has a direct impact on the safety of healthcare professionals and is critical to educating the community and preventing the spread of the disease.16

Ahmad et al.17 demonstrated that EVD training for health professionals in India improves scores on EVD assessments, but this is the first study the authors are aware of that evaluated student health professionals in the United States. Our survey used fact-based questions about how EVD is

Summary

The EBV educational intervention provided a significant increase in the knowledge of student healthcare professionals. Pharmacy students saw a significant change in their attitudes and perceptions of the EVD virus, while nursing and physician assistant students did not. Further development of educational interventions could be particularly useful for graduate schools to meet current guidelines and increase knowledge of students to better prepare them for practice. This educational intervention

Conflicts of interest

None.

Disclosure statements

None.

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