Aligning values with standards: a comparison of professional values in Continuing Education standards

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Professional Ethics
• Continuing Professional Development

Background:

• Continuing education (CE) is crucial for health professionals to maintain competence and ethical standards.
• Evolving professional values include ethics, cultural diversity, social justice, interprofessionalism, and self-care.
• Assessing CE guidelines against these values is essential for professional development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare CE guidelines from 11 health professional organizations.
• To evaluate alignment with five key domains of professional values: ethics, cultural diversity, social justice, interprofessionalism, and self-care.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of CE guidelines and standards.
• Evaluation across five specified domains of professional values.

Main Results:

• Ethics was the most frequently addressed domain in CE standards.
• Interprofessionalism and cultural diversity were the next most prominent domains.
• Varied attention was given to social justice and self-care across organizations.

Conclusions:

• CE accreditors can use this study to assess the alignment of their standards with professional values.
• This research provides a framework for understanding CE standards within the broader health professions.
• Recommendations for enhancing CE to encompass all five value domains can be developed.