Decision making in continuing professional development organisations during a crisis.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Organizational Behavior
• Public Health Crises

Background:

• COVID-19 necessitated rapid strategic and operational adjustments by continuing professional development (CPD) providers.
• Despite prior pandemic experience, CPD organizations were largely unprepared for the scale of the COVID-19 crisis.
• Understanding decision-making processes in CPD during crises is crucial for future preparedness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how continuing professional development (CPD) organizations make strategic and operational decisions during a crisis.
• To identify the factors influencing decision-making within CPD organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive qualitative study was conducted involving semi-structured interviews with leaders from two CPD organizations: University of Toronto (UofT) and Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME).
• Thematic analysis was applied to interview transcripts, utilizing Mazmanian et al.'s Ecological Framework for conceptual insight.
• Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to recruit participants in March 2021.

Main Results:

• Decision-making evolved through four pandemic phases: shutdown, pivot, transition, and 'new reality'.
• CPD organizations demonstrated a shift from limited initial decision-making autonomy to greater control over strategic pathways.
• Creativity, adaptability, flexibility, and the need for social connection significantly influenced organizational decision-making.

Conclusions:

• CPD organizations exhibited significant adaptability in decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Ecological Framework highlights the temporal and relational aspects critical to crisis decision-making in CPD.
• Future crises require CPD to adopt creative, flexible, and socially connected strategies, with further research needed on rapid organizational adaptation.