New TB satellite courses dramatize frontline jobs
New TB satellite courses dramatize frontline jobs
Aimed primarily at nurses, outreach workers
Early next year, as many as 5,000 men and women who work on the front lines of TB control will settle down at libraries, hospitals, or, if the past is any indication, maybe even a sports bar or two, to take in the latest satellite TB courses.
The coming series, a three-parter, is targeted specifically at TB nurses, outreach workers, and their supervisors. The audience is expected to include as many as 5,000 people, watching from as many as 500 downlink sites across the country, says Kay Wallis, MPH, distance learning projects coordinator for the Francis J. Curry National TB Model Center in San Francisco.
Production for next year’s series is currently under way, says Wallis. The topics include contact investigation, confidentiality, surveillance and case management in hospitals and institutions, and patient adherence. Broadcasts, which will air simultaneously in four time zones, are set for Jan. 27 (the date for the first topic), Feb. 3 (when the next two topics will air), and Feb. 10 (devoted to the fourth topic). Broadcast times will be 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern, noon to 2 p.m. Central, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Moun tain, and 10 a.m. to noon Pacific.
The series moderator will be Gisela Schecter, MD, MPH, the former medical chief of TB control in San Francisco and now a physician in private practice. Course speakers will include Paula Fujiwara, MD, TB control officer for New York City, who’ll talk about contact investigation; Carol Pozsik, RN, MPH, TB controller for South Carolina and the head of the National TB Controllers Association, who’ll talk about adherence; and Barbara Cole, RN, from the Riverside County, CA, TB control program, who’ll discuss patient confidentiality.
Courses to follow workers in the field
"With these topics, as you can see, there’s a lot of meaty content," says Wallis. The production company charged with making the series come to life plans to go into the field and follow outreach workers under real-life conditions. Filmmakers also will create various role-playing situations, with actors demonstrating the right and wrong ways to handle various situations, and there will be a montage of historical film footage.
The series is a collaboration between the Curry Model Center and the Centers for Disease Con trol’s Division of TB Elimination, which developed the content of the modules. Downlink site registration information is already available on Curry’s Web page, and a liaison for each state in the country is working with the center to ensure that everyone who wants to watch the series will be able to do so, says Wallis. Participants will receive a set of self-study booklets to read before the dates of the actual broadcasts, she says.
Two years ago, a satellite series aimed at a physician audience was watched by an estimated 17,000 people. This year’s audience is expected to be smaller because the target audience is much more specific, Wallis says.
[Editor’s note: For more information, contact TB Frontline at (415) 502-7904 or check the Model Center’s Web site at www.nationaltbcenter.edu.]
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