Can student and staff involvement in quality assurance and promotion be achieved in the health sciences through mHealth and e-learning? A conceptual platform design

Abstract

With the new generation of health professionals, some skills such as diagnosing and treating an array of diseases has become complex and challenging. These health professionals also seem to portray other transferrable skills which can be embedded with future curricular through the use of e-learning. It has been reported that universities have a responsibility and an opportunity to effectively prepare future health professionals to address health related issues with evolving changes within the healthcare landscapes through enhanced student involvement. Practical activities based on local institutional creativity and regional issues can reinvigorate the links between clinical practice and the health of people, through quality assurance and promotion. One form of a practical activity that can be identified is through the use of e-learning and technology. Over the last decade, developments in e-learning and technologies are creating the groundwork for health sciences education. There may be a similar trajectory within the health sciences domain where both health sciences students and qualified health professionals frequently use their mobile phones when consulting with patients. Given the diversity of e-learning methods, there are many ways to carry out such an evaluation. However, the current literature shows us that we have yet to reach any form of consensus about which indicators to evaluate. There is a greater need for an evaluation tool or platform that is properly constructed, validated and tested within the health sciences, that can also be used to enhance student involvement and quality assurance. Given the limited success rate of e-learning within the health sciences field, this article aims to fill this gap by proposing how such an mHealth and e-learning methodology for a platform can be evaluated and established, to optimise learning (for students and academic staff), student involvement, quality assurance and healthcare (for patients) in South Africa.