Comparison of Virtual and In-Person Tobacco Treatment Specialist Training
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30953/thmt.v8.432Keywords:
continuing medical education, COVID-19, e-tobacco, e-tobacco treatment specialist, racial and geographic distributions, virtual vs. in-person training, telehealthAbstract
Purpose: There is limited research comparing virtual and in-person tobacco treatment specialist training. As a result of COVID-19, the Duke-UNC Tobacco Treatment Specialist Training Program (Duke-UNC TTS) transitioned from an in-person to a virtual format, allowing for a comparison of these two training formats.
Materials and Methods: We conducted an observational study comparing Duke-UNC TTS attendance and evaluations at three courses provided in-person in 2019 with the same three courses provided virtually in 2020.
Results: The transition from in-person to virtual format was associated with more than a doubling of course attendance (in-person format enrolled 112 participants; virtual format enrolled 232 participants; p < 0.05). The virtual format was also associated with more than two times the proportion of out-of-state participant attendance (in-person format enrolled 22.3% out-of-state attendees; virtual format enrolled 52.8% out-of-state attendees; p < 0.05). Course evaluations showed similar quality scores for measuring perceived knowledge acquisition and course satisfaction.
Conclusions: This observational study showed that the virtual TTS training format had higher attendance and wider geographical reach, without a significant loss in quality, than the in-person training format. The study suggests that TTS training programs should consider continued delivery of training through interactive virtual formats to increase accessibility for participants.
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Copyright (c) 2023 James Davis, MD, Sonia Clark, MHA, Jennifer Greyber, Jillian Dirkes, MSW, LCSW, Sally Herndon, MPH, Joyce Swetlick, MPH, Susan Trout, LCSW, MSPH, NCTTP, Farid Manshaii, Adam Goldstein, MD, MPH
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to Telehealth and Medicine Today (THMT).
THMT is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
