Computer-Aided Learning Program in Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Patient History Taking for Pharmacy Students

Abstract

Introduction : Throughout the years, the learning process is still on going in the way of class lecturing, reading textbooks, and demonstrating via multimedia. However, there are some limitations regarding this issue such as time limit, lack of staff, budget, etc. Because of that, we are currently introducing a new multimedia to improve the knowledge and skill learning process. This project aims to develop a computer-aided learning program (CAL) to improve patient case history taking skills for health care professional students.
Methodology : This project aims to assess the effectiveness of the CAL program regarding Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patient history taking skills. There were a total of 45 volunteers, divided into three different groups, a CAL, a lecture, and a control group. The CAL group went through the CAL session and filled out patient information throughout both a case form and an attitude survey form. Meanwhile, the lecture group attended a CHF lecture and went for patient interviews approximately 20 minutes later. They would ask the questions to the patient and fill in the patient information in a case form provided. The control group went through a process similar to that of the lecture group, except that they did not go through the CAL program or take a class lecture. All volunteers were assigned to write the SOAP notes and send them back to the researchers. All data were then analyzed using statistical tests including the one-way ANOVA, Scheffe tests, and Likert's scales.
Results : There were 30 volunteers in this project; 9 males and 21 females. Regarding the total score CHF patient data, the CAL group was statistically higher than the other groups (p<0.05), especially in topics of underlying diseases, medication history, and social & family histories. However, the SOAP note scores were not statistically significantly different between groups (p>0.05). Nevertheless, the total scores of the CAL group were significantly higher than those of the other groups (p = 0.025, 0.002, respectively). Regarding attitudes toward the CAL, SOAP note: A clinical pharmacy note which contains subjective, objective, assessment, and plans for health care professionals program, for the most part participants appreciated the program, although there were some limitations such as the time limit of running the program, language, etc.
Conclusion : Overall, the computer-aided learning program (CAL) for CHF patient history taking helped users learn more about history taking skills compared with a lecturing method. This means the program provided adequate patient information and accurately simulated a patient interview. Users will develop their skills gradually. A lecturing methods, however, which includes learning from class and taking a real patient interview, might not be practical because it takes too much time and involves some other limitations, including the busy schedule of health care professionals, expenses, numbers of patients and professional mistakes. Nevertheless, the CAL program will continue to be improved in order to modify the functions and the quality of the program. Finally, this material can certainly be a good supplement for a traditional learning process.