A pilot trial of internet-delivered mastery-based Ebola simulation education in Uganda

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) poses a global health threat in Uganda where the disease is endemic, and resources are limited. We designed a curriculum to provide EVD education at the Masindi Kitara Medical Center (MKMC) and compare it to a group who took the same course at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in the United States. Demographic information, confidence and knowledge test scores, and video grading data was gathered. Three trainers and six trainees were enrolled at each site. Completion of the online curriculum improved knowledge test scores in trainees. Initial pre-training knowledge test scores were higher in the MUSC group than the MKMC group (p=0.04), but both sites had significant improvement in post-test scores. On the confidence survey, participants at MKMC were generally more confident pretraining than MUSC participants. MUSC participants improved more in confidence, although post-training confidence at MUSC (median=4.2; IQR=3.0-4.6) remained significantly (p=0.02) lower than at MKMC (median=4.9; IQR =4.4-5.0). We demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing our course with a train-the-trainer component designed to rapidly develop new trainers to provide EVD education in Uganda.