Thank you to the 53 partner site physicians and 22 medical volunteer physicians who participated in our online survey in June and July 2020. The survey was taken to assess partner and volunteer current use, needs and preferences for remote technology for training purposes. Respondents were selected based on their knowledge of Children’s HeartLink and to get representation across disciplines.

Both groups reported currently using lectures and group discussions frequently for remote training. Simulation and discussion boards were identified as potential opportunities for growth, with a lower rate of current use and high rate of interest. Simulation is a promising potential strategy because it showed the biggest gap between current use and interest. The findings also showed that demonstrations and hands-on training had a lower rate of current use and high rate of interest.

While the partner and volunteer groups identified similar technologies for “easy lifts” and “opportunities for growth,” there were differences in the responses about the key barriers to remote training. Access to hardware/software and internet quality were often cited as barriers by partner site staff. Limited time was often cited as a barrier by medical volunteers.

The findings from the surveys will lead Children’s Heartlink staff to further inquire in several areas including: local mentors, how to differentiate Children’s HeartLink content, responses by disciplines (e.g. nurses vs. physicians) and how to better manage partner/volunteer remote activities.

“This assessment provided a critical step in identifying exactly what our two groups of partners believe will be easiest to execute and also most valuable for training purposes,” says Anne Betzner, PhD, Vice President of Evaluation and Programs. “Having this data set informed follow-up interviews with some of the respondents and gave our collaborative partners on the Medtronic Global Innovation Fellows team important information and insights that will guide our work together.”