Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lam-Antoniades, Margarita
• Ratnapalan, Savithiri
• Tait, Gordon

Titel

Electronic continuing education in the health professions: An update on evidence from RCTs

Ist Teil von

• The Journal of continuing education in the health professions, 2009, Vol.29 (1), p.44-51

Ort / Verlag

San Francisco: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Introduction: Demonstrating the effectiveness of the rapidly expanding field of electronic continuing education (e‐CE) has important implications for CE in the health professions. This study provides an update on evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness of e‐CE in the health professions. Methods: A literature search of RCTs was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL from 2004 to 2007. Papers were reviewed separately by 2 of the authors and results were categorized and reviewed according to study comparisons. Results: Fifteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Six compared e‐CE to no intervention or placebo. Of these 6 studies, 4 showed a statistically significant advantage of the e‐CE intervention and 2 showed no significant effect. Two studies compared e‐CE to a lecture. Of these, 1 showed an advantage of e‐CE and 1 showed no difference. Two studies compared e‐CE to a small‐group interactive intervention. In both studies, the e‐CE group outperformed the control. Two studies compared a multicomponent e‐CE intervention to one based on flat text, and both showed the multicomponent intervention to be more effective. Two of the 15 studies demonstrated a statistically significant effect on practice patterns. Positive effects of e‐CE on knowledge were shown to persist for up to 12 months and effects on practice up to 5 months. Discussion: Overall, these studies suggest that multicomponent e‐CE interventions can be effective in changing health professionals' practice patterns, and improve their knowledge. E‐CE interventions based purely on flat text appear to be of limited effectiveness in changing either knowledge or practice. These results support the use of multicomponent e‐CE as a method of CE delivery.