Training, re-training and getting back to practice.
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Career breaks occur for many reasons and may well be the pattern for the future. In a recent survey, reasons given for career breaks included personal and family sickness, childrearing, travelling and study. Childrearing was the most common reason for women to have a break and personal sickness for men. Although these breaks may be short, they may be multiple and therefore have enormous implications for workforce planning. (+info)
Refresher training and continuing education for para-medical ophthalmic assistants.
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This paper describes a refresher training and continuing education programme in clinical and community ophthalmology for para-medical ophthalmic assistants (PMOAs) conducted by the Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology. The course participants included 60 PMOAs working either in district hospitals, primary health centres or mobile units from the districts in Maharashtra. Each training programme was spread over 43 hours in 4 days and included lectures, practical demonstrations, and hands-on training in the outpatient, inpatient, and operation theatre of the training institution. Participants were given exposure to outreach activities in an eye camp and a satellite eye centre resembling a district hospital. The PMOAs found the training to be useful and it was seen that areas like patient counselling, instrument and equipment maintenance, and assistance in the operation theatre for newer surgical procedures which were lacking in the basic training were fulfilled in this training programme. Regional Institutes of Ophthalmology, upgraded medical colleges, and other eye-care institutions which have facilities and manpower could organise similar refresher and continuing education programmes for PMOAs so that they could be utilised more efficiently in the blindness-control activities in the country. (+info)
Peer-mentoring workshop for continuous professional development.
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OBJECTIVE: To develop a Professional Skills Enhancement Workshop (PSEW) to assist practitioners who require skills training to maintain competency and meet new standards of practice. Participants for this workshop were identified as those pharmacists who completed the peer review assessment process and who did not meet standards of practice expectations. DESIGN: The full-day workshop consists of a half-day introduction to use of clinical drug information resources and approaches to addressing practice-based questions. The second part of the workshop introduces participants to the use of structured patient-interviewing techniques to elicit information using standardized patients. Participants in the workshop completed self-assessments as well as course evaluations. Subsequent to completion of the course, participants rechallenged the peer review assessment process, a test of their clinical skills consisting of a written test of clinical knowledge and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), to provide objective evidence of skills acquisition. ASSESSMENT: Over 90% of participants "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that the PSEW was helpful in reacquainting them with current standards of professional practice. Sixty-nine percent of participants who completed the peer review assessment rechallenge process following completion of the course were able to meet standards of practice expectations. CONCLUSIONS: In developing continuous professional development programs, first identifying the needs of all practitioners is essential. The PSEW provides one model for skills training for practitioners who, for a variety of reasons, may not have maintained the expected level of competency. (+info)
Characteristics of mechanical ventilation employed in intensive care units: a multicenter survey of hospitals.
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Re-entry residency training: opportunities and obstacles.
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OBJECTIVE: To identify and quantify the reasons general practitioners and family physicians consider retraining and their reasons for not pursuing further training. DESIGN: Population-based mailed survey. SETTING: British Columbia. PARTICIPANTS: Family physicians and general practitioners identified by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Practising physicians' level of awareness of the University of British Columbia's re-entry training program, the number and demographic characteristics of those who had considered retraining, their specialties of interest, and the barriers and possible inducements to retraining. RESULTS: Only half of the survey respondents were aware of the re-entry training program at the University of British Columbia. A small but substantial number of practising general practitioners and family physicians were interested in taking specialty training from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. While several training programs were particularly popular (ie, anesthesia and psychiatry--18.5% of respondents for each), almost every specialty training program was mentioned. Physicians identified the length and hours of training, financial issues, family issues, and the need for relocation as obstacles to retraining. The availability of part-time training, regional training, and return-of-service financial assistance were all identified as potential inducements. CONCLUSION: To meet the needs of practising physicians, re-entry training programs will need to consider flexibility, where feasible, with regard to choice of specialty, intensity, and location of postgraduate training. (+info)
Using evaluation to enhance educational support for dental teams in the UK.
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Each United Kingdom regional postgraduate deanery offers courses and educational support for the NHS (National Health Service) primary care dental team, primarily through networks of tutors (dental educators). After reporting literature on effective continuing education and the role of evaluation, this article provides an analysis of five educational evaluations (2005-08), identifying key messages and distilling ways to enhance educational support for the UK dental team. These evaluations adopted case study design and principally employed interviews (n=51) and questionnaires (n=221). The studies' key messages and recommendations are as follows: clarify dental educator roles; provide strategic management and educational support for educators; ensure continuing education is matched to the learning needs of dental teams and specific groups; and use practice (office) visits to support practice (team) development plans. Evaluation enables initiatives to be evidence-informed, focus effort where most needed, argue for continued funding, and give voice to stakeholders. However, there is added value in a collective consideration of evaluation findings from related studies. Doing this has identified ways to enhance the strategic development of educational support for the UK dental team and is applicable in a wider context both nationally and internationally. (+info)