Radioprotection 2025, 60( 4), 318 – 327 © A. López et al., Published by EDP Sciences 2025 https:// doi. org / 10.1051 / radiopro / 2025014
Available online at: www. radioprotection. org
ARTICLE
Evaluation of an Asynchronous Virtual Course for Continuing Education in Radiation Protection in Nuclear Medicine in Latin America: Outcomes and Lessons Learned
A. López 1,*, D. Coiro 2, P. Mora 3, E. E. Hernández 4, N. Diaz 5, L. Rodríguez 6, M. S. Gallo 7 and I. O’ Farril 8
1 Department of Physical Sciences, Centre of Physics and Engineering in Health( CFIS), Universidad de La Frontera. Ave. Francisco Salazar 01145, Temuco, Chile. 2 Doctoral student, Institute of Health Sciences, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. 3 President of ALFIM 2022 – 2025, Costa Rica. 4 Vice-president of ALFIM 2022 – 2025, Guatemala. 5 Centro Oncológico Anna Rocca de Bonatti, CETAC Juncal, Argentina. 6 Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, Havana, Cuba.
7 Universidad Católica de Salta, Argentina. 8 Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Havana, Cuba.
Received: 12 December 2024 / Accepted: 14 April 2025
Abstract – This study critically evaluates the outcomes of the first Asynchronous Virtual Course organized by the Latin American Association of Medical Physics( ALFIM), titled“ Reference Levels for Diagnosis in Nuclear Medicine”, designed for professionals in the field, comprised both theoretical and practical components. The teaching outcomes were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, digital tracking of participant engagement in the pre-recorded theoretical activities on YouTube, as well as the results of the theoretical( Google questionnaire) and practical( exercise and report) formative assessments. Additionally, a quality survey was also conducted to gather participants’ opinions on various aspects of the course. The course had 315 participants from 21 countries. 99 completed the theoretical evaluation with 100 % achieving satisfactory results. 43 participants finished the planned practical activities, demonstrating the application of acquired competencies. The quality survey, completed by 40 attendees, indicated that 68 % considered this type of course entirely feasible and beneficial, 17 % deemed it very feasible, and 15 % found it sufficiently feasible. The survey also identified areas for improvement. The strategy for developing virtual courses using YouTube and Google tools is viable and effective for establishing continuous education programs in the region.
Keywords: patient protection / education / optimisation / nuclear medicine / radiation protection
1 Introduction
The Latin American Association of Medical Physics( ALFIM) is a professional, non-profit society dedicated to advancing medical physics in the Latin American region. Its mission includes promoting scientific and technical knowledge, fostering education and professional development, and enhancing the quality of patient care. ALFIM unites 16 national member organizations( NMOs) across the region, addressing significant disparities in resources and healthcare contexts( López, Mora and Hernández, 2023a). Those
* Corresponding author: adlin. lopez @ ufrontera disparities varing from the differences of regulatory frameworks, economical and social status, technical equipments, to the qualify and accredited human resources availabilities( Peix, Claudio T. Mesquita et al., 2022; UNSCEAR, 2022; Elbanna et al., 2023; Mojeed Omotayo Adelodun and Evangel Chinyere Anyanwu, 2024). A 2022 survey by Renha et al. highlighted critical challenges, including an insufficient number of medical physicists, especially in diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, limited training programs, and a lack of formal recognition for medical physicists within healthcare teams, restricting their roles in essential areas like radiation safety and optimization( Renha et al., 2022).
A continuous education system for health profesions is highly recommended in order to make professionals up-to-date
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License( https:// creativecommons. org / licenses / by / 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.