Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40896821›Full record

ArticleJMIR research protocols2025

Needs for Technology-Enhanced Health Professions Education in Eastern and Southern Africa: Protocol for a Descriptive, Cross-Sectional Survey.

Shalote Rudo Chipamaunga, Detlef Richard Prozesky, Elliot Kafumukache, Patricia Katowa-Mukwato, Kefalotse S Dithole, Lynette J van der Merwe, Mike Nantamu Kagawa, Rudo Gwini

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR research protocols, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Shalote Rudo Chipamaunga *Department of Health Professions Education and Student Support, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.ORCID 0000-0003-0538-4771
Detlef Richard Prozesky *Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.ORCID 0000-0003-0583-9940
Elliot Kafumukache *School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0002-3373-3775
Patricia Katowa-Mukwato *School of Nursing Sciences, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0002-7252-9590
Kefalotse S Dithole *School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.ORCID 0000-0003-3019-6537
Lynette J van der Merwe *Division Health Sciences Education, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0003-4402-5050
Mike Nantamu Kagawa *Department of Obstetrics, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.ORCID 0000-0002-5048-685X
Rudo Gwini *Department of Medicine, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.ORCID 0000-0002-6703-8738

Funding

African Association for Health Professions Education and ResearchR25TW011217 · FIC · INFECTIOUS DISEASES INSTITUTE · PI ADEJUMO, PRISCA, NACHEGA, JEAN BISIMWA · 2018 to 2023
$3.9M
FIC NIH HHS R25 TW011217
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe use of technology in its various forms has long been a feature of the education and training of health professionals in the industrialized world. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, health professions education institutions suddenly adopted "emergency remote teaching," and this experience exposed the vulnerabilities of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa regarding modes of teaching and learning. In this region, the needs to migrate to effective technology-enhanced learning are not explicit.

objectiveThe main objective of this study is to assess the needs for technology-enhanced health professions education in Eastern and Southern Africa. This will lead to the development of a tool reflecting different technologies used in health professions education. The tool will be used by educators to identify and bridge gaps in their use of technology in health professions education.

methodsThis will be a descriptive, cross-sectional survey, and data will be collected from medical and nursing programs at the bachelor's degree level recognized by national professional bodies or government structures offered at tertiary institutions in countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The substitution, augmentation, modification, redefinition (SAMR) model underpins our study and serves as an organizing framework for the different types of technology in current use in the institutions under study. The SAMR model is a tool that provides guidance in describing and categorizing uses of educational technology in the classroom. The model is intended to guide educators to enhance their teaching and learning through the adoption, adaptation, or transformation of educational approaches using technology. To obtain the purposive sample, a person from each program who is well-acquainted with the program will identify staff members and students who represent the totality of those populations fairly. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively for each program. Data were then organized according to the SAMR framework to portray the types of technology in use and challenges encountered.

resultsThis research was funded in October 2023, and the first institutional review board approval was obtained in April 2024. Data collection began in September 2024 and ended in November 2024. Since this was a multi-institution study, we envisaged multiphase data analysis, which was completed in mid-December 2024. As of August 2025, the manuscript is under peer review for publication of the results.

conclusionsThe study will reveal gaps in the use of technology, and this will lead to the identification of needs for enhancing technology in health professions education. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/67331.

Indexed as

COVID-19Education, DistanceHealth OccupationsHealth PersonnelAfrica, EasternAfrica, SouthernCross-Sectional StudiesHumansSARS-CoV-2Surveys and Questionnairescross-sectional surveyeducation 5.0SAMR modelsubstitution, augmentation, modification, redefinitiontechnology-enhanced health professions education

Identifiers

PMID40896821
PMCPMC12441635

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.