The Institute of Medicine in the US put out this publication on redesigning continuing ed in medicine for better impact on patient care.  This set below lets you download the entire publication for free.  The movement in continuing health care education is toward a step wide progression.  1.  evaluate if learning took place.  2.  evaluate if the learning could be or was applied in practice.  3. evaluate if the application of the learning made a difference in patient care outcomes. 

If you look at my article on writing for publication, it addresses this issue.  I can send you the full text if you are interested.  Basically we offered a one day workshop on writing which the audience, mostly RNs, loved but only one out of 61 followed up with submitting an article.  There was no real outcome from the workshop other than the enjoyment.  When we changed the format but with the same content, meeting every other week for 2 hours for 4 weeks but assign participants a writing assignment, we had 85% submit an article.  That's the general idea of where the movement is heading, having CE attendance end up with improved patient care outcomes.  Not easy to do!  http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12704/redesigning-continuing-education-in-the-health-professions 

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12704/redesigning-continuing-education-in-the-health-professions

Longitudinal studies about non technicals skills for Md, including empathy for exemple. But there are some problems for defined this skills measurements. see, 

Pedersen R.. Empirical research on empathy in medicine—a critical review.

Patient Educ Couns 2009;76:307–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.

2009.06.012.

Thank you very much for your contributions!!

Giovanna

hi Miller has very well described the answer for your question. Here are those.

Miller’s Model of Clinical Competence and Moore’s Seven Levels of CME Outcomes are examples of taxonomies that define levels of evaluation in relation to healthcare provider performance (Miller 1990; Moore, Green & Gallis, 2009).

Miller’s Model defines four levels of clinical performance: knows, knows how, shows how, and does.Moore’s Model expands on Miller’s framework starting with participation and hen moving to satisfaction, learning (declarative knowledge), learning (procedural knowledge), competence, performance, patient

health, and population/community health.

Regardless of what outcome measure is chosen, it is important to ensure that

outcome measurement incorporates the principles of reliability and validity.

Reliability is the degree to which a score or other measure remains unchanged upon test and retest (when no change is expected) or across different evaluators.

Validity is the degree to which a measure assesses what it was intended to measure.

When planning CME activities, it is essential to understand these definitions and principles as they are used to ultimately evaluate the impact of the CME

activity on the professional practice , interprofessional team performance,

and patient care.

.

Thanks for sharing your data Madelaine. Did you change any of the methods used as well as the format (time, frequency)? I would be interested in reading the full text. Regards, Mike

Dear Colleagues : CME is extremly important from many points of view . As for the question of how to evaluate its impact - just remember the verset :                                       " cast  thy bread upon the waters for you shalt find it after many days " 

Arhur

In addition to Madelaine Lawrence's fine points above and IOM there is a need to understand factors that contribute to program successes and weaknesses. Chen's work on Theory-Driven Program Evaluation is a great primer. In my article

Commitment to change instrument enhances program planning, implementation, and evaluation J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2004 Summer;24(3):153-62. I noted CME planners need to consider the full planning process, program implementation, the quality and importance of content to the target audience, the strength of evidence supporting the desired behavioural change, presentation quality, level of engagement when conducting outcome evaluation. We tend to too quickly look at "outcome measures" without considering intervening factors that contribute to program success or weaknesses. Impact measures depend on the nature of the CME content, what stakeholders might have been involved in the planning process - is it responding to a community / public health need? Can administrative data be used to assess changes, Can patient reports be utilized? 

 Dear Miss Madelaine Lawrence,

With pleasure I suggested ear publication that I read and rated very useful and refers to the question and the area where you are asked a question and it can be found on the Internet when you type in the name of the author and title of the publication!

Title of the publication: Establishing a system of safety standards in primary health protec On the way healthy, safe and quality medical practice

Editor: Ahmed Best

Editor, text and photo: Almir Panjeta DTP: Ljubomir Kravets Publisher: Agency for Quality and Accreditation in Healthcare in FBiH Number of copies: 1500 Published: 2016 Print publications supported by the Federal Ministry of Health Print Arch Design

Best regards

Jasenko Karamehic

I can  also suggest the work published in the journal:

Rauché

Zdravstveni časopis-Health magazin

Značaj cjeloživotne edukacije u sestrinskoj praksi

Importance of lifelong education in nursing practice

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION: During centuries, the path of sisterhood was very thorny. Modern nursing requires education as a priority in the professional life of nurses. Education of nurses isn’t only to follow and perform doctor’s orders. The success of nurses depends not only on its ability to overcome humanity and modern technology, but also on the continued education, primarily through formal education. Modern nursing prefers education as a priority in the professional career of nurses. Tertiary education of nurses is a priority of modern states.

OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH: Emphasising the need for lifelong learning

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey involved nurse staffing from the Cantonal Hospital “Safet Mujić” in Mostar.

RESEARCH RESULTS: The survey included 72 nurses, with average age of 36 years. Majority of respondents with 11-20 years of work experience years (58.3% of respondents). From the total number of respondents, 69,4% of them work at the clinical department. 90.2% have only a high school diploma, while only 8.3% of them possess university degree. In the last three years, only 23.6% has attended professional seminars. Majority of respondents (68%) confirmed that they mainly learned from older nurses, while 15.2% mostly learned from the doctors. Only 16.6% attended professional conferences and from that number only 6.9% were the first authors or presenters at those conferences. 62.5% of respondents believe that they are sufficiently trained for their job position.

CONCLUSION: Sample of the research shows a small number of adequately educated nurses, both formal and informal education.

KEYWORDS: nurses, lifelong learning