Needs Assessment

The ultimate goal of continuing healthcare educational programs is to improve patient outcomes by enhancing clinician performance. In order to improve performance, an understanding of the needs and practice gaps of healthcare professionals is essential. Evidence shows that educational programs that are based on well conducted needs assessments are more effective in improving performance.  Independent assessments provide essential insights that improve the design and implementation of healthcare continuing educational programs.

Through our validated research methods,  we help you answer:

• What are the current clinical practice patterns?
• What are the barriers to optimally managing patients?
• What are the learner’s preferences/styles?
• Do educational needs vary within groups?
• Where should educational activities take place?
• What are the unmet educational needs of healthcare professionals in specific clinical areas?
• What are the educational needs of patients?

Reference:  Norman, G. R., S. I. Shannon and M. L. Marrin (2004). "The need for needs assessment in continuing medical education." BMJ 328(7446): 999-1001. 

Learning Preference Assessment

Learning styles are critical to the understanding of, how educational initiatives should be designed and the method of implementation to have the maximum benefit for the learner. 

A learning preference assessment can help you:

• Make appropriate design decisions.
• Provide rationale for particular education designs.
• Align the preferences of healthcare professionals with educational activities
• Engage busy healthcare professionals in educational activities that fit their learning styles and preferences

Outcomes Assessment

Through our objective evaluation assessments we can help you go beyond just reporting demographics and satisfaction ratings.  We assist you in the appropriate design and implementation of an outcomes assessment to determine the impact of educational interventions on healthcare professionals’ performance and their patients’ health. Our performance evaluations are designed using case vignettes validated in the measurement of practice performance to determine the effectiveness of educational programs. 

The resulting analysis helps you answer:

• What was the impact of education on healthcare professionals’ performance?
• What was the impact of education on healthcare professionals’ adherence to clinical practice guidelines?
• What are the barriers to applying evidence to practice?
• How relevant was the education to daily clinical practice?
• What needs and gaps remain for continued education?
• How did our educational activities compare to others?

Reference:  Peabody JW, et al. Comparison of vignettes, standardized patients, and chart abstraction: A prospective validation study of 3 methods for measuring quality. JAMA. 2000;283:1715-1722.

Patient Assessment

Through the use of valid quality health indicators we help you assess the impact of healthcare continuing education on patient health outcomes.  We can also help you identify patient’s needs and perceptions related to the care they receive. Patient health improvements can be measured by health status improvements, patient knowledge/understanding, adherence to treatment, or communication patterns and are customized to specific clinical areas.

Reference:  Abdolrasulnia, M., N. Weichold, R. Shewchuk, K. Saag, D. J. Cobaugh, C. LaCivita, N. Weissman and J. Allison (2006). "Agreement between medical record documentation and patient-reported use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs." Am J Health Syst Pharm 63(8): 744-7.

Geographic Analysis

Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping provides an analytic framework for integrating and managing multiple sources of information. GIS can help link information to location data, such as mortality rate, target audience distribution, and other geographic information. Through GIS mapping, multiple layers of information are available, providing a better understanding of how, where, and to whom educational initiatives should be targeted.

Geographic analysis can help:

• Identify and characterize geographic variations in prevalence and mortality of the specified disease area.
• Identify variation by race, gender, age, and related risk factors.
• Prioritize potential areas to effectively plan and support educational activities.
• Examine relationships between disease and location of target audiences who manage patients.

Reference: Abdolrasulnia M, Strasser S, Pryor E, Terndrup T, Weissman N.W., Williams M, Heck E, Casebeer L. Spatial patterns representing the geographic impact of physician participation in an online CME bioterrorism course following the anthrax events of 2001. Medinfo. 2004; 2004 (CD):1498.

Barrier Analysis

Often times knowledge is not translated to practice due to challenges or barriers healthcare professionals face in practice. These barriers can be categorized into personal, system, or patient related issues. A more in-depth understanding of these challenges from the perspective of community-practicing healthcare professionals can be useful before or after  educational programming to continue to design educational interventions that  enhance practice and patient care.

Using qualitative and quantitative methodologies we can help you:

• Identify challenges healthcare professionals face in practice from their perspective.
• Classify barriers as personal, system or patient related.
• Prioritize challenges that are most amenable to education.
• Compare challenges across different specialties.
• Align educational resources to address the challenges of practicing professionals.

Reference: Colon-Emeric CS, Casebeer L, Saag K, Allison J, Levine D, Suh TT, and Lyles KW: Barriers to providing osteoporosis care in skilled nursing facilities: perceptions of medical directors and directors of nursing. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2004; 5(6): p. 361-6.