Continuing professional education for care staff: evaluation of training and development project

This study describes the "Professional Career in Arthritis Care (PCA) 2003-2005" training and development project conducted at one hospital in Finland. The project consisted of 5,194 training days for 93 participants and 13 practical development tasks. The research task is to describe (1) the level of need for additional training once the project had ended, (2) the significance of the development task from the perspective of professional development, and (3) how the development task has been introduced into the work community. The material was gathered by questionnaire. The training needs remained quite stable in spite of lengthy training when measured by the themes of the curriculum covered during the PCA. When asked about their need for further training in general in order to manage their current job, a total of 66% of participants still expressed a need for training at the end of the PCA. The development task was viewed mostly positively. The PCA project has given some support to professional development and organizational change, general empowerment, motivation, and satisfaction.