Devising a competency-based continuing professional development programme to meet the needs of on-call consultant...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Medical Education
• Continuing Professional Development

Background:

• On-call consultant pediatricians face evolving clinical demands.
• Existing training may not fully address current on-call responsibilities.
• A structured approach to competency acquisition is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define essential clinical competencies for Swedish on-call consultant pediatricians.
• To develop an outcome-based continuing professional development (CPD) program for acquiring these competencies.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented CPD program.

Main Methods:

• A precourse needs assessment involving 26 consultants identified key clinical situations and themes.
• An outcome-based CPD program was designed based on the needs assessment.
• The program was implemented with 16 participants using diverse learning, assessment, and evaluation methods.
• A reflective questionnaire was used for program evaluation.

Main Results:

• The needs assessment identified 217 clinical situations, 17 themes, and 139 subthemes.
• Participants reported improved understanding of the on-call consultant role and demands.
• Participants expressed increased confidence, established professional networks, and updated relevant knowledge.

Conclusions:

• A competency-based CPD program was successfully defined and implemented for on-call consultant pediatricians.
• The program's objectives were aligned with a needs assessment of active on-call consultants.
• Program evaluation suggests participants progressed towards the defined objectives, indicating program effectiveness.