CD Review
Acute Respiratory Infection
CD Module
The Wellcome Trust,
London, United Kingdom, publishers
The Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI)CD Module is the latest educational
offering by The Wellcome Trust, a British-based charity. The module
is part of the Topics in International Health CD-ROM series. The
entire program is designed to provide accessible, current, high-quality
information on tropical and international health. The material is
directed towards students, teachers, health-care professionals,
academics, and researchers in medicine and the life sciences. Each
tutorial has been reviewed by at least two international subject
experts.
The ARI module includes 11 separate tutorials ranging from etiology
and risk factors to epidemiology and program management. An additional
image collection of over 600 screens with accompanying text provides
a useful bank of visual aids.
While the module covers all major ARIs, the focus is on conditions
causing substantial illness and deaths in the developing world.
Each tutorial averages 40 screens, with each individual screen featuring
a variety of additional interactive tools, such as pop-up boxes
and animated features. On average, tutorial post-tests follow every
6-10 screens. Although the content and information differ, each
tutorial averages 2-4 hours to complete. Completing all 11 tutorials
could take up to 50 hours.
Overall, the module succeeds in consolidating broad-reaching material
and providing an authoritative presentation on ARI. Module strengths
include the successful presentation of clinically current and well-researched
information. (One possible exception is the management of ear problems.
The module recommends irrigation of acute otitis media. This practice
is highly questionable, and the accompanying illustrations minimize
the major risks associated with this procedure in cases where the
tympanic membrane has ruptured. The World Health Organization recommends
“wicking.”) Each tutorial provides ample references, and
the repetition of important themes helps reinforce important clinical
and public health concepts. The graphic features and video inserts
are equally useful. For example, the integration of animated graphics
in the pathology tutorial to demonstrate the major steps of viral
multiplication offers an innovative visual tool for mastering complex
information.
On the other hand, the module suffers in its attempt to cover a
large quantity of material in a similar manner. Not all the tutorials
are of comparable complexity. While 40 screens may be adequate to
discuss ARI prevention and control measures, other sections, such
as pathology and respiratory defenses, would have benefited from
more discussion. By trying to maintain uniform format of comparable
length, parts of these tutorials are superficially summarized at
the expense of a clear and in-depth discussion. Another weakness
pertains to the varying levels of difficulty in the post-tests interspersed
throughout the module. Some of the questions are challenging, whereas
other post-tests could be completed correctly without ever having
taken the tutorial. Minor typographical errors were noted throughout;
however, they did not detract from the overall presentation.
More important issues pertain to the module’s intended audience.
Although the material and clinical examples are designed to address
ARIs in the developing world, they are not aimed at professionals
from those countries. Rather, the module is better suited for health
professionals from the industrialized world who have an interest
in global health. The module would be far more practical had it
been field-tested in those countries from which both clinical and
public health examples were drawn.
The module requires additional software for accessing video clips,
such as QuickTime or RealPlayer. The cost of the CD-ROM is also
relatively high: $195.00 for institutions and $55 for students and
individual purchasers. These two features limit the module’s practicality
as a teaching device for health professionals in the developing
world. Additionally, the module does not have the capability of
multitasking with other software applications. The user must exit
the module to use any other software, which limits the ability to
access other references at the same time.
In summary, the Acute Respiratory Infection CD Module serves as
a useful adjunctive teaching tool for both clinical and public health
practitioners serving the developing world. It is not intended to
replace the clinical component of provider training. While the material
is comprehensive in scope, this aspect conversely leads to an uneven
presentation in places. Given the required sophisticated software
and cost of the CD, its usefulness for health professionals from
the developing world is questionable.
Patricia L. Riley,* Elizabeth A. Downes,† and Malcolm P. Chikomo*
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA;
and †Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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