The Institute congratulates Dr Charle Viljoen to his PhD

Cape Heart Institute congratulates Affiliate member Dr Charle André Viljoen on his graduation (PhD) at the graduation ceremony hosted at the Sarah Baartman Hall on Thursday, 14 December 2023. The Title of the Thesis: Evaluating the impact of novel teaching methods in electrocardiography. 

Charle Viljoen’s doctoral research explores the impact of novel teaching methods in electrocardiography (ECG) and establishes an evidence-based undergraduate curriculum for the teaching of ECG. As determined by a systematic review and meta-analysis, computer-assisted instruction was not more effective than other teaching methods in acquiring and retaining ECG competence. Further prospective observational work, however, confirmed that blended ECG learning accomplished significantly better levels of ECG competence and confidence than conventional face-to-face ECG teaching. Whereas mobile learning was found to be a time-efficient learning modality to achieve improved ECG diagnostic accuracy, a randomised controlled trial showed that these educational gains were not sustained over time. Finally, the work in this thesis demonstrates the importance of experiential learning in electrocardiography. 

Whilst reading for his PhD, Dr Viljoen created an online ECG learning platform and reference application that have been used by more than 30,000 students worldwide. Also graduating on the day was Dr Viljoen’s sister, Elani Muller (Degree of Master of Public Health) with distinction supervised by Prof. Landon Meyer and co-supervisor Prof. Karen Sliwa.