JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Despite the exposure of cardiothoracic anesthesiology (CT) trainees to patients with implantable electronic cardiac devices (CIEDs), there is a paucity of formal curricula on this subject. Major impediments for educating CT anesthesiology trainees on CIEDs include busy clinical schedules, short staffing, inconsistent trainees’ exposure to CIEDs, multiplicity of vendors and a ‘millennial’ mentality of the new generation of learners. As a result, cardiothoracic anesthesiology trainees graduating from their residency and fellowship programs may lack the competency to manage patients with CIEDs. Herein, we report our systematic approach of designing, validating, mapping, evaluating, and delivering a CIED curriculum on the first mobile application of its kind on this subject.

Methods:

development of CIED curriculum proceeded through the Kern’s 6 step approach of problem identification, determining and prioritizing content, writing goals and objectives; selecting instructional strategies; implementation of the material and evaluation and applications of lessons learned. This was followed by the delivery of the curriculum in the form of user-study app and administrator-type-app with functionalities in assessment of the learners’ gains, experience and satisfaction as well as the administrator’s capability to update the educational content based on the feedback of the learners and the emerging technology. As such, the CIED App allows asynchronous learning at the pace of the learners and allows, through a multiplicity of educational materials, the ability to digest this complex and understudied subject. We benefit from the experience of a multidisciplinary team of anesthesiologists, computer scientists and educators in accomplishing this project.