Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Citation Types
Year Published
Publication Types
Relationship
Authors
Journals
There is a consensus that the ultimate goal of continuing education programs in the health fields is to bring about improvements in patient care through change in the behavior of practicing clinicians.Yet evaluations of continuing education programs in the health professions rarely involve collection of data which provides a direct indication of whether this goal has been achieved.In fact, variables representative of totally different constructs, such as participant satisfaction or knowledge gain, are frequently used as primary evaluation criteria. The purpose of this article is threefold :(a) to present a theoretical discussion in which the nature of evaluation criteria and their interrelationships are explored, (b) to review the literature of continuing education evaluation in several predominant health fields in order to provide insight concerning the value of the various criteria, and (c) to suggest a practical strategy for evaluation through which one can work toward achievement of ideal goals through the determination of the effect of continuing education programs on the health care delivery system and the augmentation of that effect within the funding and operational restrictions commonly imposed on evaluation efforts.The development of a productive, yet practical model for evaluation of continuing education in the health professions is necessary for several reasons.In the first place there is increasing pressure placed upon practicing clinicians to engage in continuing education due partially at least to (1) legislative mandates, (2)policies and requirements of professional associations, and, in some fields, (3) a tightening labor market. These extrinsic pressures can be fully justified only to the extent that there is solid evidence documenting the value of such study. To date, both the accumulation of such evidence in the form of published, empirically-based evaluation studies and the development of systematic methodologies for creating such evidence have lagged well behind the growth of continuing education programs.
There is a consensus that the ultimate goal of continuing education programs in the health fields is to bring about improvements in patient care through change in the behavior of practicing clinicians.Yet evaluations of continuing education programs in the health professions rarely involve collection of data which provides a direct indication of whether this goal has been achieved.In fact, variables representative of totally different constructs, such as participant satisfaction or knowledge gain, are frequently used as primary evaluation criteria. The purpose of this article is threefold :(a) to present a theoretical discussion in which the nature of evaluation criteria and their interrelationships are explored, (b) to review the literature of continuing education evaluation in several predominant health fields in order to provide insight concerning the value of the various criteria, and (c) to suggest a practical strategy for evaluation through which one can work toward achievement of ideal goals through the determination of the effect of continuing education programs on the health care delivery system and the augmentation of that effect within the funding and operational restrictions commonly imposed on evaluation efforts.The development of a productive, yet practical model for evaluation of continuing education in the health professions is necessary for several reasons.In the first place there is increasing pressure placed upon practicing clinicians to engage in continuing education due partially at least to (1) legislative mandates, (2)policies and requirements of professional associations, and, in some fields, (3) a tightening labor market. These extrinsic pressures can be fully justified only to the extent that there is solid evidence documenting the value of such study. To date, both the accumulation of such evidence in the form of published, empirically-based evaluation studies and the development of systematic methodologies for creating such evidence have lagged well behind the growth of continuing education programs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.