[New forms of training in occupational medicine]

An extremely rapid progress in innovative communication systems has led to essential changes in conditions of acquiring knowledge and professional skills. This resulted in the development of different educational forms, focusing especially on distance learning, where trainers and trainees placed in different locations use different means of communication and information exchange, including most up-to-date information technology (IT). In 2002, the first distance learning specialization course for physicians was launched by the School of Public Health at the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź. The e-based introductory course in occupational medicine was recognized as an equivalent to the traditional on-campus training. The training process is mainly based on CD-ROM containing lectures and necessary links to external sources of the internet information. E-mail is used as the major communication mean to facilitate the exchange between trainers and trainees. The quality control of the training involved two streams of effectiveness and utility measurement systems. The quality of distance learning, evaluated one year after its commence, is comparable with that of the on-campus training.