Professional development in reproductive and sexual health--a pilot study from Suffolk, UK

Staff from two neighbouring trusts working in the fields of family planning and sexual health worked together to develop joint guidelines and from this evolved a training initiative. It was acknowledged that staff were either primarily trained in family planning or in the management of sexually transmitted infections (ST1) and therefore the training would be interdisciplinary. In line with current educational thinking it was also decided to make it multiprofessional. A pilot training project was therefore set up to answer the question 'can self directed learning combined with facilitated small group study sessions provide theoretical updating for a range of health professionals within the field of reproductive and sexual health'. The project aimed to increase theoretical knowledge of contraception, sexually transmitted infections and termination of pregnancy for all relevant nursing and medical staff working within the two trusts. The stated outcome of the project was for all staff to achieve a wider core knowledge of the identified topics, regardless of whether their primary training and knowledge base was in family planning or sexually transmitted infection. The project spanned five months and offered professional development packages in hormonal contraception, non-hormonal contraception, termination of pregnancy, bacterial and minor STIs and viral STIs. The pilot project was well received and the process was shown to be an effective way of increasing the knowledge base. The knowledge shift was greatest in the opposing discipline to the primary discipline of each participant. There were added advantages in team building for staff within the same trust and networking across trusts. The strengths and weaknesses of the process were identified and used to develop ideas for future professional development initiatives.