PURPOSE: During the initial phase of the pandemic, healthcare professionals faced difficulties due to the limited availability of comprehensive learning resources on managing patients affected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The COVID-19 Skills Preparation Course (C19_SPACE) was tailored to meet the overwhelming demand for specialized training. The primary objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and impact of this program on enhancing clinical knowledge and to identify factors affecting this improvement. METHODS: As part of the project, data were collected prospectively to measure the baseline knowledge. After the descriptive statistics, multiple and multivariate logistic regression models were executed to identify the factors associated with knowledge increase. RESULTS: The final sample included 3140 medical doctors (MDs) and 3090 nurses (RNs). For the primary analysis, the mean value of the baseline knowledge test score of MDs was 62.41 (standard deviation, SD = 13.48), and it significantly (p < 0.001) increased to 84.65 (SD = 11.95). Factors influencing overall knowledge scores were female sex (AOR = 1.34 [1.04-1.73]), being a specialist qualified for intensive care medicine (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 0.56, [0.33-0.96]), and performance on the pre-test (AOR = 0.91, [0.90-0.92]). As for the RNs, the mean value of the total knowledge score was 63.25 (SD = 13.53), which significantly (p < 0.001) increased to 81.51 (SD = 14.21). Factor associated with knowledge was performance on the pre-test (AOR = 0.92 [0.92-0.93]). CONCLUSIONS: C19_SPACE effectively increased the clinical knowledge of doctors and nurses. The effect was more pronounced in the program's target group of healthcare workers with less experience in the intensive care unit (ICU). Other factors associated with knowledge enhancement were sex and being a specialist in intensive care.

3rd Faculty of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Charles University and Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital Prague Prague Czech Republic

Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital Via Manzoni 56 20089 Milan Rozzano Italy

Department of Anaesthesia Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine Division of General Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin Germany

Department of Biomedical Sciences Humanitas University Via Levi Montalcini Pieve Emanuele Milan Italy

Department of Critical Care Medicine Ghent University Hospital Ghent Belgium

Department of Intensive Care Medicine Research VUmc Intensive Care UMC Location VUmc VU Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands

Department of Intensive Care Medicine University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands

Department of Intensive Care Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Exeter UK

European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Brussels Belgium

Faculty of Economics and Business Coordination Center for Research in Social Sciences University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary

Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Nursing and Midwifery University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary

Médecine Intensive and Réanimation Hôpital Saint Louis Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris Université Paris Cité Paris France

School of Sports and Health Sciences University of Brighton Brighton UK

See more in PubMed

Cereda D, Manica M, Tirani M et al (2021) The early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Lombardy, Italy. Epidemics 37:100528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2021.100528 PubMed DOI PMC

Grasselli G, Pesenti A, Cecconi M (2020) Critical care utilization for the COVID-19 outbreak in Lombardy, Italy: early experience and forecast during an emergency response. JAMA 323:1545–1546. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4031 PubMed DOI

Perico L, Tomasoni S, Peracchi T et al (2020) COVID-19 and lombardy: TESTing the impact of the first wave of the pandemic. EBioMedicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.103069 PubMed DOI PMC

Alhazzani W, Møller MH, Arabi YM et al (2020) Surviving sepsis campaign: guidelines on the management of critically ill adults with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Intens Care Med 46:854–887. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-020-06022-5 DOI

Karagiannidis C, Mostert C, Hentschker C et al (2020) Case characteristics, resource use, and outcomes of 10 021 patients with COVID-19 admitted to 920 German hospitals: an observational study. Lancet Respir Med 8:853–862. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30316-7 PubMed DOI PMC

Patel BV, Haar S, Handslip R et al (2021) Natural history, trajectory, and management of mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients in the United Kingdom. Intens Care Med 47:549–565. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-021-06389-z DOI

Messina A, Pradella A, Alicino V et al (2021) Critical care outreach team during COVID-19: ventilatory support in the ward and outcomes. Respir Care 66:928–935. https://doi.org/10.4187/respcare.08743 PubMed DOI

Li L, Xv Q, Yan J (2020) COVID-19: the need for continuous medical education and training. Lancet Respir Med 8:e23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30125-9 PubMed DOI PMC

Online training as a weapon to fight the new coronavirus. https://www.who.int/news/item/07-02-2020-online-training-as-a-weapon-to-fight-the-new-coronavirus . Accessed 3 Oct 2023

Engberg M, Bonde J, Sigurdsson ST et al (2021) Training non-intensivist doctors to work with COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 65:664–673. https://doi.org/10.1111/aas.13789 PubMed DOI PMC

Bakhsh A, Asiri R, Alotaibi H et al (2023) Rapid cycle training for non-critical care physicians to meet intensive care unit staff shortage at an academic training center in a developing country during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Med Educ 23:493. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04478-9 PubMed DOI PMC

Boutros P, Kassem N, Nieder J et al (2023) Education and training adaptations for health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review of lessons learned and innovations. Healthcare (Basel) 11:2902. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11212902 PubMed DOI

Siddiqui SS, Saxena S, Agrawal S et al (2023) The impact of a “short-term” basic intensive care training program on the knowledge of nonintensivist doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic: An experience from a population-dense low- and middle-income country. Aust Crit Care 36:138–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aucc.2022.08.004 PubMed DOI

Schaller SJ, Mellinghoff J, Cecconi M, on behalf of the C19_Space Taskforce members, ESICM (2022) Education to save lives: C19SPACE, the COVID19 Skills PrepAration CoursE. Intensive Care Med 48:227–230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-021-06591-z PubMed DOI PMC

Mehta S, Machado F, Kwizera A et al (2021) COVID-19: a heavy toll on healthcare workers. Lancet Respir Med 9:226–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00068-0 PubMed DOI PMC

Giusti EM, Pedroli E, D’Aniello GE et al (2020) The psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on health professionals: a cross-sectional study. Front Psychol 11:1684. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01684 PubMed DOI PMC

Arabi YM, Azoulay E, Al-Dorzi HM et al (2021) How the COVID-19 pandemic will change the future of critical care. Intensive Care Med 47:282–291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-021-06352-y PubMed DOI PMC

Unwin E, Potts HWW, Dacre J et al (2018) Passing MRCP (UK) PACES: a cross-sectional study examining the performance of doctors by sex and country. BMC Med Educ 18:70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1178-2 PubMed DOI PMC

Rothman AI, Cohen R, Ross J et al (1995) Station gender bias in a multiple-station test of clinical skills. Acad Med 70:42–46. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-199501000-00012 PubMed DOI

Van Zanten M, Boulet JR, McKinley DW (2003) Correlates of performance of the ECFMG clinical skills assessment: influences of candidate characteristics on performance. Acad Med 78:S72–S74. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200310001-00023 PubMed DOI

Statement on the fifteenth meeting of the IHR (2005) Emergency Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic . Accessed 9 Mar 2024

Frenk J, Chen LC, Chandran L et al (2022) Challenges and opportunities for educating health professionals after the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet 400:1539–1556. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02092-X PubMed DOI PMC