ISRRT_COVID-19_book

affected physical meetings, training and learning programmes vital for CPD. Many institutions
struggled as the familiar physical platforms through which CPD has always been delivered
prior to the pandemic were no longer feasible. In addition, the disruption of hospital clinical
placements occurred in many countries in a bid to reduce vectors for cross-transmissions and
reduce risks to students.
This chapter aims to review the effect of COVID-19 on CPD for diagnostic radiographers and
radiation therapists and the implications that emerged.
Healthcare professionals in response to the pandemic
As this is the first global pandemic occurring during the digital era, the advancement of
technology paved a new direction to the adoption of accessible video-conferencing
applications. 3 The widespread usage of smartphones and the availability of 4G allow access
to various video-conferencing applications. Post graduate education moves to virtual
platforms and educators learnt to use blended learning techniques by incorporating prerecorded
talks and online assessments. Several institutions began conducting CPD sessions
such as journal clubs, clinical rounds, and case-based discussions, using video-conferencing
tools, to ensure learning still occurred whilst maintaining social distancing. Senior HCPs had
to embrace the digitization opportunities and adapt to the use of E-learning platforms with
virtual CPD sessions, to keep themselves updated at the workplace.
Virtual CPD
The use of Zoom® (Zoom Video Communications, San Jose, California, USA) or other in-house
video conferencing software for CPD talks and webinars had been gaining traction for its
convenience. Presenters can utilise interactive slides, videos, polling functions and chat
functions to make the presentation stimulating. Further adoption of electronic evaluation,
attendance-taking, and assessments using Google Forms (Alphabet, Mountain View,
California, USA), Survey Monkey (Momentive Europe UC, Dublin, Ireland), and other online
survey methods enables CPD providers to retrieve such electronic data remotely. CPD
presenters can also apply interactive web-based or smartphone application audience
response systems to improve audience engagement.
49