Satellite-delivered medical education and training for Central Europe: a TEMPUS project

This paper reports the experience gained in delivering continuing and postgraduate medical education by satellite to update medical teachers in Central Europe. An infrastructure of receiving sites was established in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. The sites participated in regular, live interactive broadcasts on a range of medical education topics. Over three years a network of sites was established incrementally and a national coordinator identified for each country, who fed back from national coordinating committees to an overall steering body. In the final year a formal evaluation revealed high satisfaction levels and maintenance of activity during the grant period. The major problems related to a lack of telephone lines to facilitate interactivity, the timing of the programmes, and the need for training in medical English language. Video libraries were established, and the majority continued to be active at the end of the project grant. Material was incorporated into both undergraduate and postgraduate education. It is calculated that continuing professional development can be delivered at less than 18 ECU per participant per country.