Measles and rubella in Italy, e-learning course for health care workers.

INTRODUCTION: Since 2003, strategic plans for the elimination of measles and congenital rubella have been adopted in the World Health Organization European Region. In Italy, a network of reference laboratories for measles and rubella (MoRoNet) has been recently implemented to ensure high-quality laboratory investigation for the confirmation of cases and outbreaks. Training among health care workers (HCWs) is one of the tasks of MoRoNet and an e-learning course was produced to improve the knowledge on international and national elimination plans and laboratory surveillance for measles and rubella.

METHODS: The course, based on the problem based learning methodology, was offered free of charge. Data about all participants and those who completed the course have been collected and analysed.

RESULTS: 5822 participants enrolled and 3995 (69%) completed the course; comparison between pre- and post-test shows a significant improvement in knowledge. The average score obtained from the satisfaction questionnaire is 4.5 out of 5.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Course's results are satisfactory, and data show a significant improvement in knowledge among participants. Most of them were satisfied with content, learning methodology and platform. Moreover, this course represents one of the possible strategies to overcome resistance and mistrust about vaccinations among HCWs.