CONNECTGPR Coast city country ONline Network for an Educational Community of Training for GP Registrars A Case Study

Background Role of Online Communities Effect on Isolation and Knowledge Sharing What works: Community, THEN technology Framework: Barnett BMC Family Practice 2012 Pilot Study: ConnectGPR What is the role of online communities? Specifically, what effect do they have? Literature review (published 2012), main potential benefits. Trainees can be professionally isolated and have decreased ability to share knowledge with peers as they have fewer professional interactions (c/w hospital med) How do you build an online community that works? The focus is on Community first, THEN technology. The most useful learning theory that applies is Communities of Practice. Master and Apprentice learning (wenger), shared Domain (eg gaining medical knowledge in primary care, community- GPRs, practice- the practice of medicine) Next technology- ease of use, ease of access, ‘opt-in’, security. This information built into a Framework recently published on building virtual communities of practice Series of studies testing these concepts (previously presented and awaiting publication)-> last one a pilot study on an online community for GPR training

The Case: Participants All GPT1 CCCGPT 2 LTG intervention, 1 LTG control 4 moderators, 2 experts All GPT1s in CCGPT Jan-July 2012 Voluntary enrolment 2 LTGs intervention (enrol): Illawarra/SH and Murrumbidgee 1 LTG control (ACT) 4 moderators (GP supervisors/educators

The Case: The Intervention Support for GPStart via online community Cover 15 topics over 6 months Weekly webchats with facilitator Forums with cases Shared resources Weekly newsletter

The Case: The Platform Secure Easy Invite only Ning- online solution

Usage 26/32 GPT1 enrolled (response rate 81%) 26 weeks (Jan-Jul 2012) 38 unique visitors/week Average 4.4 page views/visit 4377 page views total Activity is centrally driven Newsletter Activities Postings

Usage stats

Webchat

Webchats Weekly webchats: 18 webchats (full logs) 1-5 GPT1 attendees per week (mean=3), 1-4 moderators (mean=2) Diabetes lifestyle mx:“This is my daily nightmare”……. “I will try this” Barriers: time, timing and reminders “I need to remind myself … I keep missing it” “We usually have a meeting at that time”

Forum, Resources, Video, Photo Forums: 16 Categories: GPStart and “Off Topic” 58 topics Replies: Total = 79, mean = 1.36 (0-12) Views: Total = 1085, mean = 18.39 (4-67) Resources: 19 resources, 177 views (mean= 9.8) Videos: 4 (humorous), 58 views (mean= 13) Photos: 8 cases, 123 views (mean= 13.67)

“I think it should continue “I think it should continue. It allows us to easy access to knowledge from our educators, colleagues. It covers useful, training relevant subjects and is so interactive” “I think it should continue. It allows us to know what other registrars are doing, so that we learn from each other and from our educators. It makes me feel connected to my peers, not isolated in one practice. The links are very useful. It makes me feel supported if I have any questions or difficult cases, I know I will always get a replay from someone”

Limitations: Accurate views Authors as moderators Self selection bias Future Research: Full evaluation Nature of effective content