Continuing education in allied health: the state of the art

This paper reports the results of a study on continuing education in 61 allied units. It was conducted to determine the current state of the art of continuing education activity in allied health units. It was found that while continuing education activities are increasing in allied health, there is not a strong administrative commitment being made to internalize continuing education as a function of education.     

Continuing professional education: Strategies for health professionals

Recent changes and pressures in the world of professional work have brought about a sharp increase in demands on continuing professional education. The health professions have been a special target of such demands. The paper examines the consequences of two systems meeting to influence continuing professional education: the action system of professional work, and the change system of professional learning. Against the background of past and present studies of professions and of adult learning, the author suggests teaching and learning strategies in five areas: the learner, learning goals, content, and methods of continuing professional education, and evaluation.     

Internet continuing education for health care professionals: an integrative review

INTRODUCTION: The objective was to review key articles and research studies on practices, preferences, and evaluation of on-line continuing education used by health care professionals. METHODS: Data sources included searches of the MEDLINE, CINAHL, and ERIC databases (January 1990 to June 2004) and manual searches of the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions and the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. Articles included reviews and research studies focusing on the use of Internet CE by health care professionals. The articles were categorized according to intervention, subjects, study design, and key findings. RESULTS: Seventeen articles were eligible and were reviewed. Although in-person CE remains the most frequent and most preferred format, Internet CE is gaining in popularity. Most participants who engage in on-line CE are satisfied with the experience and find it to be an effective learning format. Barriers to on-line CE include technical difficulties and lack of computer knowledge. DISCUSSION: Although the Internet is an effective and satisfactory educational format, barriers to use of the Internet for CE still exist. Additional studies are needed to measure the impact of Internet CE on practice performance, reduce barriers to on-line CE, and identify appropriate theoretical frameworks for on-line learning.     

Effectiveness of continuing education for health professionals: a literature review

The 1970s saw the development of a mandatory continuing education system as a result of actions by state legislatures and professional organizations. Although the actions of these bodies imply a relationship between participation in continuing education activities and the maintenance of professional competency, such a relationship has never been clearly and consistently demonstrated. This article reviews studies of the effectiveness of continuing education in the health professions, notes weaknesses in the continuing education system, and suggests strategies for improving it.     

Interdisciplinary education for health care professionals.

As the interdisciplinary approach to health care becomes more important, new approaches to interdisciplinary education for health professionals are needed. This article presents objectives for interdisciplinary learning and describes one such course designed to deal with the problem of child abuse.     

Continuing competency for health professionals: caveat emptor

Continuing competency presents a challenge for professionals in the environmental health field and other public heath disciplines. It is argued that traditional continuing professional education alone is inadequate and other alternatives need to be developed which are complementary. Issues and concerns related to mandatory vs. voluntary continuing professional education are discussed. Communities of interest in the process are described which include practitioners, employers, faculty and consumers, each of whom contribute to a definition of competence. A format for increasing interaction among these communities and a credentialing--continuing competency model is presented. The model addresses the notion that obtaining and maintaining competency is an on-going dynamic process.     

Continuing education on teaching skills for health professionals. Evaluation of training the trainers

Effective Patient Teaching (EPT), a health professions continuing education course, improves educators' teaching skills when presented by its developers. This study aimed to determine whether others could teach EPT with similar effectiveness. Four nurse managers who provide staff training and supervision for multiple hospital diabetes care units presented EPT to health care professionals at seven such sites; another seven served as controls. The evaluation included observations of trainers conducting EPT programs in the field, teaching skills ratings of health professionals in both groups, and knowledge test administered to patients. Six months after training, teaching skills scores of health professional EPT participants were better (p < .05) than controls. The EPT program improves participants' teaching skills and maintains these effects in field settings, when presented by faculty not involved in its development.     

Contributions of public health to genetics education for health care professionals.

With growing knowledge about the role of genetics in health, genetics education for health care professionals has taken on increasing importance. Many efforts are under way to develop new genetics curricula. Although such efforts are primarily the responsibility of health professional schools and professional societies, the public health system is an important stakeholder, and different sectors of public health have opportunities to enhance educational efforts. These include the development of authoritative information sources about the clinical utility of genetic susceptibility and pharmacogenetic tests, creation of networks that link professionals in underserved regions to educational materials and consultative backup, and sponsorship of forums for multidisciplinary discussion of controversial issues. Public health input can help to ensure an appropriate emphasis on health outcomes as new genomic tests and technologies come into use, thus helping to protect society from the social and medical costs of genetic tests with limited clinical value.     

Advancing public health through continuing education of health care professionals

This article describes how the CS2day (Cease Smoking Today) initiative positioned continuing education (CE) in the intersection between medicine and public health. The authors suggest that most CE activities address the medical challenges that clinicians confront, often to the neglect of the public health issues that are key risk factors for the onset and exacerbation of diseases. The authors further suggest that the educational activities of the CS2day initiative functioned as Type III translational science in that it facilitated the use of research-derived practice guidelines in clinical practice and in the community. The article concludes by stating that the successful results of the CS2day initiative illustrate what can happen when continuing education efforts develop from a public health problem rather than just a practice gap identified in a clinical practice setting.     

Patient education for sickle cell disease: a national survey of health care professionals.

Despite emphasis on including patient and parent education in sickle cell comprehensive clinical care, literature on the use of such materials is scarce. To discover the availability of, satisfaction with, use of and interest in patient and parent education materials for sickle cell disease, we surveyed, with a 176-item self-administered questionnaire, 209 sickle cell professionals nationwide. Respondents came from 74 sickle cell programs, were 63.4% female and 37.7% African American, and represented many health professions. We found that materials about patient behavior and psycho-social issues, as opposed to those about the disease and treatment, were more often unavailable and, when available, more often unsatisfactory and less frequently used. When available, use of materials was unrelated to satisfaction and perceptions of patient problems for most topics. For each of 10 topics, over 90% of the respondents were interested in materials covering the topic. Future research should examine the low to moderate use of psycho-social and behavioral materials with sickle cell patients, and should assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of existing and new materials.     

Continuing education for maternal child health nurses: a means to improve the health care of mothers and children

The University of Kentucky College of Nursing is in the 7th year of implementing a 7-year federally funded continuing education project. The major goal of MCH (maternal child health) Project 969, which is scheduled to terminate Sept. 30, 1984, is to develop and offer a series of quality continuing education courses for three distinct populations--practicing maternal child health nurses, State nurse consultants, and nurse supervisors at county or district levels. The purpose of these courses is to improve the practice of the participating nurses and thereby ultimately to improve the health status of mothers and children in Region IV of the Department of Health and Human Services. Evaluation of the project by its staff after its first 5 years showed that (a) it has provided a series of continuing education courses of high quality; (b) met its goals and objectives; (c) provided continuing education for practicing maternal child health nurses that has improved MCH nursing practice in Region IV; (d) provided continuing education for State nurse consultants that has enabled them to become more effective leaders in their respective States; (e) used previously untapped resources in Region IV to make the concept of regional continuing education in maternal child health nursing a reality; and (f) generated a networking system among State nurse consultants, nurse educators, and nurse leaders in other service-oriented Title V programs that has been most effective in meeting the learning needs of the three distinct populations it serves.     

Assistive technology education needs of allied health professionals in a rural state

A nonexperimental design using a mailed questionnaire was used to answer five questions regarding allied health practitioners: What (1) present skills, (2) knowledge and (3) assistive technology (AT) competence do allied health practitioners have; what are (4) the AT skills and knowledge that allied health practitioners would like to obtain; and (5) how would these practitioners like to have AT education provided. More than two thirds of the subjects reported having nonexistent or foundational knowledge in most of the AT areas. Additionally, more than 50% of the respondents had a moderate or significant need for information in most areas of AT. No clear preferences regarding training options were revealed, other than a traditional classroom approach being the least attractive option. Most respondents are not willing to travel more than 1 hour from their home for AT education. This study revealed useful information for developing the content and format of AT education for allied health practitioners in Maine. We will expand this pilot study to investigate the AT educational needs of a wider variety of practitioners and consumers.     

Development of a distance education palliative care programme for allied health professionals in Australia

A postal survey of allied health professionals working in hospice and palliative care in Australia was conducted in 1995. Its aims were to investigate the education presently provided for allied health professionals in this field and the interest of these workers in further education. A total of 223 questionnaires were returned. One hundred and sixty-five respondents stated that no specific education for allied health professionals was provided in their workplace. Almost all considered that there was a need for more palliative care education for allied health professionals. Seventy-five per cent said they were interested in distance education in palliative care. The implications of these findings for further training are discussed, as well as the development of a post-graduate distance education package.