A needs assessment in continuing professional education

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Continuing Professional Development
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Practicing nurses require targeted continuing education (CE) to maintain and enhance skills.
• Effective needs assessment and dissemination strategies are crucial for relevant CE program development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a systematic approach for assessing practicing nurses' learning needs.
• To present a computer-based solution for marketing and disseminating CE offerings.

Main Methods:

• A database survey collected demographic, educational, and employment data from over 5,000 nurses.
• Three mini-surveys informed the development of a learning needs questionnaire distributed to a large subpopulation.
• Analysis of 1,500 questionnaire responses identified regional CE priorities.
• Data from surveys were merged into a computerized database management system.

Main Results:

• Identified key continuing nursing education priorities within a 13-county region.
• Developed a comprehensive database integrating nurse demographics and learning needs.
• Established a system for topic selection, course design, and communication regarding CE.

Conclusions:

• The described needs assessment and program planning approach is effective for identifying and addressing learning needs of practicing nurses.
• The computer-based system facilitates efficient dissemination of CE information.
• This model can be applied to similar challenges in other professional education fields.