Substance use-related continuing education course objectives: Alignment with professional competencies.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Interprofessional Healthcare

Background:

• The healthcare workforce requires enhanced education to manage substance use disorders.
• A 6-module massive open online course (MOOC) was developed to educate health professionals on substance use disorder treatment.
• The MOOC aims to equip professionals across various disciplines with essential knowledge and skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To align the objectives of a substance use disorder MOOC with the core competencies of five key healthcare professions.
• To evaluate the interprofessional applicability and discipline-specific relevance of the educational content.
• To ensure the MOOC addresses critical competencies for effective substance use disorder treatment.

Main Methods:

• Content experts from nursing, pharmacy, medicine, physician assistant studies, and social work evaluated the MOOC.
• Expert raters mapped Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) core competencies to each MOOC objective.
• The number of competencies matched to objectives was quantified across all six modules.

Main Results:

• All competencies for nursing and social work were mapped to MOOC objectives.
• High proportions of knowledge-based (58-80%), skill-based (75-88%), and all attitude-based competencies were mapped for physicians, PAs, and pharmacists.
• The mapping demonstrated significant alignment between the MOOC and essential professional competencies.

Conclusions:

• The competency-based mapping validates the MOOC's interprofessional design.
• The course effectively addresses discipline-specific competencies crucial for improving patient outcomes in substance use disorder care.
• This MOOC serves as a valuable educational tool for the interprofessional healthcare workforce.