Life-long learning and self-assessment

Peri-Operative Patient Safety - An Interactive Workshop for Section 3 CPD Credits Developed in Collaboration with the CMPA

BACKGROUND

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada requires physicians to collect credit in continuing professional development courses including Section 3 credits which require feedback and self-assessment. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of offering Section 3 credits in a conference setting using an interactive workshop on peri-operative patient safety developed in collaboration with the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA). Both the knowledge gained and the attitudes towards the conference were analysed.

METHODS

This was a pre/post-test study design. An interactive case studies workshop was implemented on medicolegal issues for patient care, before, during, and after surgery at the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery annual meeting. The workshop used small group and large interactive group educational strategies to gauge knowledge of both pre and post cases. Participants completed a questionnaire at the end of the workshop comparing their attitudes before and after the workshop.

RESULTS

There were 22 participants in the workshop. A little over half knew the requirements for Section 3 CPD credits (58%) but only 36% knew how to obtain them. The data demonstrated with 95% confidence intervals, statistically significant improvement in how participants felt about their ability to identify at-risk behaviours in surgical practice (2.10 to 2.90, 3-point Likert, p<0.001), to analyze the impact of at-risk behaviour on patient care (1.95 to 2.65, p<0.001), and to develop strategies to address at-risk behaviours in surgical practice and improve patient care (1.95 to 2.80, p<0.001). One hundred percent of participants felt similar workshops should be included in future annual meetings, and 94% felt that future meetings should include more opportunities to obtain Section 3 credits.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of an interactive workshop in a conference setting to fulfill the need for Section 3 continuing professional development credits.

Analyzing the relationship between organizational culture and lifelong learning among the information professionals in the university libraries of Pakistan

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the relationships between the perceptions of library and information science (LIS) professionals about organizational culture (OC) and lifelong learning (LLL) in the university libraries of Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a positivist paradigm and quantitative research method to examine the relationships between OC and the dimensions of LLL among the LIS professionals in the university libraries of Pakistan. Using a stratified sampling technique, data were collected, through a structured questionnaire, from a sample of 226 LIS professionals (out of N = 545) working in 97 university libraries of the country.

Findings

The results of the study found that the respondents’ perceptions about OC had positively correlated with their LLL in the study context. All the dimensions of OC predicted respondents’ LLL practices in the study context.

Practical implications

This study has practical implications for library leadership and LIS professionals to determine how the university libraries are likely to behave with LLL practices to accomplish the target goals.

Social implications

The results of this study can be used as supporting source and rationale for university libraries to develop strategic plans and policies for implementing LLL practices among LIS professionals of academic libraries.

Originality/value

The published literature shows the absence of any credible research carried out to know the influence of OC on LLL of LIS professionals.

Funding sources for continuing medical education: An observational study

AIMS

Medical accreditation bodies and licensing authorities are increasingly mandating continuing medical education (CME) credits for maintenance of licensure of healthcare providers. However, the costs involved in participating in these CME activities are often substantial and may be a major deterrent in obtaining these mandatory credits. It is assumed that healthcare providers often obtain sponsorship from their institutions or third party payers (i.e. pharmaceutical-industry) to attend these educational activities. Data currently does not exist exploring the funding sources for CME activities in India. In this study, we examine the relative proportion of CME activities sponsored by self, institution and the pharmaceutical-industry. We also wanted to explore the characteristics of courses that have a high proportion of self-sponsorship.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a retrospective audit of the data during the year 2009 conducted at an autonomous clinical training academy. The details of the sponsor of each CME activity were collected from an existing database. Participants were subsequently categorized as sponsored by self, sponsored by institution or sponsored by pharmaceutical-industry.

RESULTS

In the year 2009, a total of 2235 participants attended 40 different CME activities at the training academy. Of the total participants, 881 (39.4%) were sponsored by self, 898 (40.2%) were sponsored by institution and 456 (20.3%) by pharmaceutical-industry. About 47.8% participants attended courses that carried an international accreditation. For the courses that offer international accreditation, 63.3% were sponsored by self, 34.9% were sponsored by institution and 1.6% were sponsored by pharmaceutical-industry. There were 126 participants (5.6%) who returned to the academy for another CME activity during the study period. Self-sponsored (SS) candidates were more likely to sponsor themselves again for subsequent CME activity compared with the other two groups (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

In our study, majority of healthcare professionals attending CME activities were either self or institution sponsored. There was a greater inclination for self-sponsoring for activities with international accreditation. SS candidates were more likely to sponsor themselves again for subsequent CME activities.