Enhancing physician scientists' skills in Geographic Information Systems: insights from an interactive workshop

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become essential in health sciences for analysing and visualizing health-related spatio-temporal data. This report details the outcomes of a week-long interactive GIS workshop held in Kano, Nigeria, and organized by the Vanderbilt-Nigeria Building Research Capacity in HIV and NCDs (V-BRCH) training programme. The workshop aimed to enhance GIS knowledge and confidence among early-career physician scientists. Thirty-three participants were trained in core GIS competencies, including software selection, data visualization and spatial analysis using Quantum GIS (QGIS). Pre- and post-workshop surveys assessed participants' knowledge and confidence levels across various GIS topics and competency areas. There was a significant improvement in self-reported participant knowledge across all GIS topic areas evaluated, with the highest percentage gains in geocoding health data (149%) and using QGIS software (135%). The percentage increase in post-workshop confidence was greatest for importing spatial data into QGIS (153%), navigating the QGIS interface (150%) and mapping public health data (150%). Participants rated the workshop highly (4.7/5, 1 = 'poor' and 5 = 'excellent'). Recommendations for course improvement included extending the duration of the workshop, using local data in exercises and employing more visual aids. These findings suggest that GIS training opportunities can be beneficial in building GIS knowledge and enhancing the skills of physician scientists in similar low- and middle-income settings.