Evaluation of an interactive web-based educational module for health care providers treating pain in patients with sickle cell disease

TL;DR: A web-based, interactive educational module that describes a typical presentation and course of a pediatric patient with SCD presenting to the ED with pain is developed that can augment knowledge and refine health care providers' practice of pain management in SCD to improve efficacy, thereby increasing quality of life for these patients.

Abstract: Acute pain from vaso-occlusion that cannot be reduced at home is the most common reason for Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospital admission for patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Administration of opioids is often necessary to alleviate pain symptoms. Despite health-care provider's knowledge of pain episodes that occur in individuals with SCD, poor pain management persists in the health care setting. This may be due to preconceptions and misinformation regarding administration of opioids and general lack of SCD knowledge. The availability of personal computers and access to the World Wide Web in the home and office settings allows for web-based learning as an efficient and convienient method to reach many health-care providers. Clinicians can access concisely presented information that covers the most essential information, and that provides instantaneous access to relevant literature. Consequently, we developed a web-based, interactive educational module that describes a typical presentation and course of a pediatric patient with SCD presenting to the ED with pain. The purpose of this project is to assess whether this type of educational intervention is useful, accessible and effective for enhancing health care provider's knowledge. To measure degree of knowledge gained, we compared answer selections from a 5-question pre-test and post-test. An evaluation was administered containing two demographic questions and nine opinion questions. Opinion questions asked subjects to what degree they felt a particular objective was achieved. Answers choices were based on a Likert-type scale ranging from "very low" to "very high". A variety of health care providers have participated in this project, ranging from social workers to hematology attending physicians. Subjects reported feeling a web-based application was useful and that the overall quality of our module was very good. Under-treatment of pain in all patient populations is a public health problem. In the SCD patient population pain episodes recur over a lifetime and significantly impact all areas of life. Web-based educational modules similar to the one we have created can augment knowledge and refine health care providers' practice of pain management in SCD to improve efficacy, thereby increasing quality of life for these patients.