Online Training and Supervision to Improve Immunization Programs in Thailand

Healthcare providers are regarded as one of the key forces in the implementation of standards for building up the immune system. This research thus makes use of e-training systems to develop the capacity of immunization providers to comply with the current format of learning.

To study the effectiveness of an online training system on the knowledge and skills of immunization services.

This experimental research was conducted on 62 providers (31 interventions and 31 control groups) at the immunization service in Thailand, which was an experimental group receiving an Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) e-course training with regular supervision and a control group receiving regular supervision. A knowledge scale on immunization and demographic data were completed by providers, and the skill of immunization used observation forms. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 software. Analysis was performed by means of a t-test, and Chi-square.

After a four-week training period, the knowledge scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group, with a statistical significance of .01. However, the skill of immunization displayed no significant difference between groups.

From these findings, online training has a positive effect on knowledge because the key benefits of online training are convenience, self-paced nature, and the ability to replay material as needed. While the skill of immunization did not differ, it seems that practice training must necessarily depend on the follow-up methods of supervision for routine monitoring and further recommendation according to the standards of immunization.