Intervention
coronary artery bypass, heart disease
HEART DISEASE, HEART, ATHEROSCLEROSIS, SECONDARY, HEART FAILURE
A physiotherapy teacher with over 10 years of experience in cardiac physiotherapy performed the teaching methodology. Both groups followed a 2-month intervention. The content of the information provided was the same for both groups. The content and training for both groups was identical, and the only aspect that varied was the methodology.The interventions were as follows.a) Face-to-face learning group:The FLG received the same content as the BL group in terms of the scheduled face-to-face classes and material for further knowledge. However, all information was provided on paper. The FL intervention included synchronous scheduled face-to-face lectures (five in total) and scheduled activities offered at set points during the semester. The face-to-face resources used were as follows: (1) A hardcopy specific syllabus about cardiac physiotherapy that consisted of five themes that included topics as epidemiology and primary prevention, clinical and complementary assessments, phases I, II, and III, cardiac physiotherapy in heart failure, and cardiac physiotherapy in heart transplantation; (2) Hardcopy glossary comprised of terms such as primary prevention, secondary prevention, atherosclerosis, coronary artery bypass grafting, percutaneous coronary intervention, and percutaneous coronary intervention; (3) Hardcopy information by international and national scientific societies was provided which included information regarding heart disease, as well as reinforcing the concepts of professional deontology, equity, clinical status, and the experiences of vulnerable patients with heart disease; (4) Five hardcopy four-question activities were created. Personalized comments about the activities were reported by the teachers to give feedback to the students; and (5) Face-to-face tutorship.b) Blended-learning group:The BL intervention included paced asynchronous online learning modules and scheduled online activities with strategic face-to-face lectures offered at set points during the semester. The students had autonomy and flexibility when accessing the online course content except for the intermittently scheduled face-to-face classes (five in total). The online resources used were as follows: (1) Moodle platform where the students were able to read breaking news, have access to the teaching guide, and solve any doubt through discussion forums; (2) Online syllabus about cardiac physiotherapy consisting of five themes, including the same topics as the FLG; (3) Online glossary comprised of the same terms as the glossary developed for the BLG; (4) Online videos by international and national scientific societies, also aimed at improving the same aspects as reported in the FLG, such as knowledge regarding heart disease as well as reinforcing the concepts of professional deontology, equity, clinical status, and the experiences of vulnerable patients with heart disease; (5) Several links to the websites of international and national scientific societies such as the European Society of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the World Heart Federation; (6) Online activities with the same four questions per theme as the FLG were created, and personalized comments about the activities were also reported by the teachers in order to give feedback to the students; (7) the app Ariadna (Spanish Society of Cardiology) used to prevent cardiovascular risk and to look for defibrillators in the area; and (8) Online tutorship through an online communication platform (Blackboard Collaborate). This is a simple and reliable virtual classroom solution to power online teaching needs (