Purpose: The e-learning systems act as a powerful aid to traditional teaching to provide high-quality education. E-learning can improve the effectiveness of medical education by transferring knowledge easily. There is neither a virtual nor traditional educational program on palliative care in Syria. E-learning can improve medical education in Syria by transferring primary knowledge of palliative care to healthcare workers. This study aimed to develop an electronic educational program about palliative care basics.
Methods: A nonprobability convenience sample of (19) Syrian healthcare workers was included. The General Model for Instructional Design (ADDIE) was used in developing the electronic educational program. The program's effectiveness was measured by using the valid Palliative Care Knowledge Test. The test was translated into Arabic. One-Group Pretest-Posttest design was adopted. A comparison between pre-test and post-test after the sample attended an electronic educational program on palliative care was conducted and its effect was measured.
Results: The mean score of the sample in the pre-test about knowledge of the basics of palliative care was (59.74%), while mean score of the sample in the post-test was (98.94%), meaning that the level of knowledge increased by (39.21) after the intervention, where the effect was (0.97).
Conclusion: There is a lack of primary knowledge of palliative care basics among the studied sample. The described program provides an innovative learning strategy on the basics of palliative care delivered in an asynchronous online format. E-programs are effective in transferring knowledge of palliative care.