Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
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Economic evaluation of CPD activities for healthcare professionals: a scoping review

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posted on 2024-09-10, 09:40 authored by Witold Orlik, Giuseppe AleoGiuseppe Aleo, Thomas KearnsThomas Kearns, Jonathan BriodyJonathan Briody, Jane Wray, Paul MahonPaul Mahon, Mario Gazić, Normela Radoš, Cristina García Vivar, Manuel Lillo Crespo, Catherine FitzgeraldCatherine Fitzgerald

Context: Continuing professional development (CPD) activities for healthcare professionals are central to the optimisation of patient safety and person-centred care. Although there is some evidence on the economics of healthcare professionals training, very little is known about the costs and benefits of CPD.

Methods: This study aimed to review the research evidence on economic evaluations of CPD activities for healthcare professionals. CINAHL, MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Econlit and Web of Science databases were used to identify articles published between 2010 and 2021.

Results: Of the 6791 titles identified, 119 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this scoping review. The majority of articles were partial economic evaluations of CPD programmes (n = 70); half were from the USA. Studies that included multiple professions were most prevalent (n = 54), followed by nurses (n = 34) and doctors (n = 23). Patient outcomes were the most commonly reported outcome (n = 51), followed by change in clinical practice (n = 38) and healthcare professionals' knowledge gain (n = 19).

Conclusions: There is an urgent call for more evidence regarding the economic evaluations of CPD. This is particularly important in view of the rising costs of healthcare globally. The majority of studies included in this review did not provide detailed information on the evaluations and many focused exclusively on the cost of CPD activities rather than outcomes.

Funding

Open access funding provided by IReL.

History

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the supporting information of this article.

Comments

The original article is available at https://asmepublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

Published Citation

Orlik W, et al. Economic evaluation of CPD activities for healthcare professionals: a scoping review. Med Educ. 2022;56(10):972-982.

Publication Date

21 April 2022

PubMed ID

35451106

Department/Unit

  • Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery
  • Data Science Centre
  • School of Population Health

Research Area

  • Cancer
  • Population Health and Health Services
  • Nursing and Midwifery
  • Health Professions Education

Publisher

Wiley

Version

  • Published Version (Version of Record)