Putting the Pieces Together: A Holistic Approach to the Design and Evaluation of Continuing Medical Education Targeting Performance Change

Although there is strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of continuing medical education in improving clinicians’ knowledge and competence, much less is known about the exact role that it plays in impacting higher levels of outcomes. For example, what types of clinical performance change can be driven by continuing medical education? How can we develop meaningful yet achievable performance goals for continuing medical education programs? How can the various behavioral change models be applied to inform educational strategies? Which design models can effectively unseat prevailing ideas and practice, model best practices for applying evidence to practice, and in turn motivate clinicians to take actions after learning? Finally, what are the evaluation strategies that we can deploy to inform the direct and indirect impact of continuing medical education on clinicians’ performance change? 

We have actively explored answers to these key questions, and in this session, we will share insights that we have gained. From education design to evaluation, we will take a holistic approach to provide learners of diverse backgrounds with actionable recommendations and strategies that they can apply when developing and evaluating continuing medical education programs geared towards clinical performance change. The Q&A session will provide learners with the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences, as well as actions that they plan to take. 

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the key drivers of clinical performance change


• Identify appropriate performance goals of continuing medical education programs and formats


• Apply design models that can improve the effectiveness of continuing medical education in driving clinical performance change


• Develop evaluation approaches to inform the direct and indirect impact of continuing medical education on clinical performance change