Financial planning of continuing education for health professions

With the increase in continuing education programs being developed for more health professionals, more information for decision making is essential. A study was conducted to define costs of continuing education programming and to examine the productivity of the professional staff. Sixty-one programs were developed and offered in a semi-rural setting over a four-year period. Of the programs analyzed, 39.4% were interdisciplinary programs, 26.2% were allied health programs, 21.3% were nursing programs, and 13.1% were miscellaneous programs. During the four-year period, there were 4,528 participants. A total of 27,835 instructional units were generated. The direct program expenses totalled $47,411, with a cost per instructional unit of $1.70. To determine the total cost of programming, the supporting staff salaries were allocated to the programs and added to the direct program expenses. Staff salaries were allocated in three ways: by program, by participant, or by instructional unit. Based on the allocations, the average total cost per program was $3,488; the average total cost per participant was $47; and the average total cost per instructional unit was $7.65. Staff productivity figures were derived by comparing the numbers of programs offered to the full-time equivalency staff for a given period. Professional staff productivity was found to be equivalent to approximately seven programs per year with about 500 participants.