Introduction: Seeding Life is an Erasmus+ project that aimed to improve professional knowledge, skills and attitude in organ donation and transplantation in Bulgaria (BG) and Latvia (LV) through a two-level educational program. The project boosted best practice exchange between Spain (SP), as world leader in organ donation, and two East European countries with different experiences in the field.
Methods: The three European countries (BG, LV and SP) agreed to take responsibilities in the core and horizontal activities of the project. The first step was to select the Target Areas (TAs) in BG and LV and responsible for each TA. A questionnaire was developed, translated and implemented in each TA to analyse the donation activity in the region, and identify any educational programs in place, educational needs, internet access and digital literacy. Based on its results, a two-level educational initiative was designed.
The first level consisted of a Learn to Teach blended training program (online and face to face). The online training included three modules: organ donation, organ transplantation and how to teach, focused on educational strategies and techniques required to efficiently design and organize training events at local level. The face to face session reinforced the knowledge acquired in the online training thorough seminars and workshops. The Learn to Teach beneficiaries became responsible for carrying out the second level of the training program in their TA: National Seminars, with a minimum of 3 seminars per TA and a length of 6-8 hours per seminar. Tailored agendas were drafted according to the needs of the TA.
Quality control actions have been taken to ensure that standards and indicators regarding the design of the educational process, the activities undertaken by experts and learners throughout training the learning management system used and the tasks of academic staff were met.
Results: Five TA were selected: 3 in BG and 2 in LV. A total of 366 questionnaires were completed during the diagnosis study (93% in BG and 7% in LV). Twenty-six medical doctors completed successfully the Learn to Teach training program (19 from BG and 7 from LV) with the following specialties: 23 Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, 1 Nephrology, 2 Surgery. The Learn to Teach online training was evaluated with 4,73 and the face to face training with 4,8 (on a scale from 1–poor to 5-excellent). Training beneficiaries became the multipliers of 16 national seminars, 10 in BG and 6 in LV that reached out 620 participants (304 in BG and 316 in LV).
An informal network with partners and other stakeholders has been established to encourage the continuity of this initiative.
Conclusion: Seeding Life is a successful initiative that provided specialized training in organ donation and transplantation to improve knowledge, skills and attitude of more than 650 participants and set the base for best practice exchange among BG, LV and SP.