Mrs Ruth Kikonyogo Nakaboga1
1Infectious Diseases Institute, Kampala, Uganda
Biography:
I am a dedicated and innovative eLearning specialist with over 15 years of experience in designing, developing, and delivering high-quality online learning experiences. I have designed over 10 cost effective learning Strategies using SMS, Interactive Voice Response, Toll- free Consultancy and Social Media Learning.
Abstract:
The Infectious Diseases Institute’s (IDI)since 2015 has been running the Anti-microbial stewardship course for health workers. After the course, IDI provided onsite follow-up visits to assess the knowledge retention of the alumni. Over the years, IDI strived to innovate more cost-effective follow-up strategies; and in January 2024 implemented the use of interactive short message service (SMS) as an approach to perform its assessment. SMS was a viable option due to its low cost and does not need smartphone or internet.
IDI piloted the SMS follow-up to a group of 81 clinicians who had attended a five-day course in Antimicrobial Stewardship. Six weeks after the course, the 81 alumni began receiving follow-up quizzes via SMS. The quizzes were in the form of multiple-choice questions and were disseminated over 13 weeks. Questions were based on content covered during the course. Alumni replied to the questions through a toll-free SMS platform that instantly provided feedback on whether the answer was correct or wrong. A toll-free phone line was also used to receive technical queries in relation to the SMS. 88% of the alumni responded to the SMS quiz questions and 86% submitted the correct response. This was above the 70% pass mark that IDI approves for the award of certificates. Challenges that hindered responses included busy work schedules and lack of battery power. The high percentage of responses and percentage of correct responses shows that SMS was well received and is effective as a post-training follow-up approach to ensure knowledge retention.