Patient Safety and Quality of Care are Everybody's Business: Evaluating the Impact of a Continuing Professional Development Program beyond Satisfaction

Abstract

BackgroundResearch integrating Continuing Professional Development (CPD) with patient safety (PS) and quality improvement (QI) is still in its infancy despite advocacy by leaders in the field. ObjectivesThis theory-driven study explored the feasibility to implement and evaluate the impact of a CPD intervention focused on teaching and practicing PS and QI at the levels of satisfaction, usefulness, knowledge, confidence, intention to change behaviour and reported changes in practice. MethodsThree workshops targeting healthcare professionals were delivered live between 2014 and 2016. Data was collected longitudinally through four questionnaires and analyzed with descriptive statistics and triangulation of sources. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. ResultsSixty-seven healthcare professionals participated in the study. Across workshops, satisfaction was high and a significant increase in knowledge and confidence were reported immediately post-intervention. Intention to change behavior was high across workshops. 'Moral norm' and 'beliefs about consequences' were consistently rated as the most influential factors in participants' intention to change behavior while 'social influence' was consistently rated as the least influential. At the workshops, participants anticipated improving communication, increasing their knowledge on PS-QI, applying content learned and building teamwork. Commonly anticipated barriers to implementation included lack of resources, environmental stressors, and the organizational climate/culture. These barriers were confirmed six-month post where participants reported partially implementing 78% (18/23) anticipated goals. ConclusionsThis study showed the feasibility to develop and implement an effective CPD intervention supporting healthcare professionals' knowledge, confidence, and reported change in teaching and practicing PS-QI.

Use of the CPD-REACTION Questionnaire to Evaluate Continuing Professional Development Activities for Health Professionals: Systematic Review

“…Of all the studies, 69% (36/52) were published between 2019 and 2021 [ 9 , 32 - 68 ]. Furthermore, 58% (30/52) were located in Canada [ 7 , 8 , 10 - 12 , 23 - 25 , 28 , 31 , 35 , 38 - 41 , 44 - 51 , 53 , 54 , 56 , 60 , 63 , 65 , 67 ] and the rest in the United States (n=6), the United Kingdom (n=4), Australia (n=2) [ 30 , 34 ], Iran (n=2) [ 55 , 64 ], Argentina (n=1) [ 52 ], Indonesia (n=1) [ 32 ], Germany (n=1) [ 58 ], Sweden (n=1) [ 21 ], the Netherlands (n=1) [ 59 ], and Burkina Faso (n=1) [ 37 ]. In addition, two multicountry studies were reported: 1 from Brazil-China-France-Japan-Mali [ 68 ] and 1 from Canada-Vietnam [ 19 ] ( Table 1 ; Figure 2 ).…”

“…( Table 2 ). In most studies, participants in CPD activities consisted of interprofessional groups (30/52, 60%) [ 7 , 9 - 11 , 19 , 21 , 27 , 28 , 31 , 35 , 37 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 55 - 61 , 63 , 64 , 66 - 68 ]. Professions included nurses (5/52, 10%) [ 26 , 29 , 30 , 48 , 54 ], physicians (4/52, 8%) [ 38 , 39 , 49 , 52 ], social workers or other health professionals, namely occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians, behavioral counselors, nutritionists, health researchers (4/52, 8%) [ 23 - 25 , 34 , 36 ], specialist physicians (3/52, 6%) [ 32 , 40 , 65 ], and pharmacists (2/52, 4%) [ 22 , 42 ].…”

“…Regarding studies reporting mean scores after the intervention (n=33) [ 8 , 12 , 22 , 25 , 29 , 30 , 33 - 36 , 40 - 44 , 47 - 49 , 55 , 56 , 59 , 60 , 63 ,​ 64 , 66 ], 9 studies (27%) reported both pre- and postactivity scores [ 8 , 22 , 25 , 29 , 42 , 49 , 56 , 60 , 66 ]. The scores were all higher after the intervention.…”

Concluding Commentary: A Call for evidence in CPD and Lifelong Learning

“…Following a thematic analysis of qualitative data, descriptive statistics and triangulation of sources they could show "feasibility to develop and implement an effective CPD intervention supporting healthcare professionals' knowledge, confidence, and reported change in teaching and practicing PS-QI". (Luconi F, Boillat M, Mak S, Chartrand D, et al, 2019) Haruta and associates aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Interprofessional Performance Scale in Conference (IPLSC). Their work allowed them to state that the IPLSC is a valuable evaluation tool to make consistent assessments of interprofessional performance in conferences.…”

Continuous Professional Development for Public Sector Pharmacists in South Africa: A Case Study of Mapping Competencies in a Pharmacists’ Preceptor Programme

“…Lifelong learning among healthcare practitioners is important to keep pace with rapid transformations which inform the practice environment [ 1 ], ensure patient safety and quality of care [ 2 ]. Two approaches that have been used to ensure and promote lifelong learning globally in pharmacy include continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing (pharmacy/medical) education (CE) [ 3 ].…”