Creating a Novel Online Digital Badge-Awarding Program in Patient Navigation to Address Healthcare Access

Area of Science:

• Health Education
• Online Learning Technologies
• Patient Navigation Training

Background:

• Professional development is crucial for patient navigators.
• Online education offers a flexible solution for healthcare training.
• Digital badges provide a modern credentialing method.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel, sustainable online course for patient navigation training.
• To assess learner satisfaction with the digital badge-awarding program.
• To explore the application of Quality Matters standards in online healthcare curriculum design.

Main Methods:

• Development of a digital badge-awarding online course.
• Utilized Blackboard learning management system.
• Applied Quality Matters standards for curriculum design and evaluation.

Main Results:

• Learners provided favorable feedback on all program elements.
• The utility of the Blackboard platform was particularly endorsed.
• Quality Matters standards offered a robust framework for course development.

Conclusions:

• Online education is an effective modality for patient navigation professional development.
• The developed course successfully prepared learners in patient navigation fundamentals.
• The program's design and delivery met high standards for online education.