Effectiveness of distance learning strategies for continuing professional development (CPD) for rural allied health practitioners: a systematic review

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Mandy J. Stanley¹  Kate Kennedy¹  Angela Berndt¹  Susan Gilbert-Hunt¹  Carolyn M. Murray¹ 

[1] University of South Australia, School of Health Sciences, Adelaide, Australia;

关键词: Continuing professional development;    Allied health professionals;    Distance education;    Rural health workforce;    Education technology;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-017-0949-5

 received in 2016-11-16, accepted in 2017-06-26,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAllied health professionals working in rural areas face unique challenges, often with limited access to resources. Accessing continuing professional development is one of those challenges and is related to retention of workforce. Effectiveness of distance learning strategies for continuing professional development in rural allied healthcare workers has not been evaluated.MethodsWe searched 17 databases and the grey literature up to September 2016 following the PRISMA guidelines. Any primary studies were included that focussed on allied health and distance delivery regardless of education topic or study design. Two independent reviewers extracted data and critically appraised the selected studies.ResultsThe search returned 5257 results. With removal of duplicate references, we reviewed 3964 article titles and abstracts; n = 206 appeared potentially eligible and were scrutinised via full text screening; n = 14 were included. Studies were published between 1997 and 2016, were of varied methodological quality and were predominantly from Australia, USA and Canada with a focus on satisfaction of learners with the delivery method or on measures of educational outcomes. Technologies used to deliver distance education included video conference, teleconference, web based platforms and virtual reality. Early papers tended to focus more on the technology characteristics than educational outcomes. Some studies compared technology based delivery to face to face modes and found satisfaction and learning outcomes to be on par. Only three studies reported on practice change following the educational intervention and, despite a suggestion there is a link between the constructs, none measured the relationship between access to continuing professional development and workforce retention.ConclusionTechnology based options of delivery have a high utility, however the complex inter-relatedness of time, use, travel, location, costs, interactivity, learning outcomes and educational design suggest a need for more sophisticated consideration by educational providers.Trial registrationRegistration with PROSPERO 30 June 2016: CRD42016041588.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017