Abstract
Continuing professional development (CPD) is one of the principal means by which health professionals (Nurses and midwives) maintain, improve, and broaden the knowledge and skills required for optimal patient care and safety, to be more specific reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. However, the lack of a widely accepted instrument to assess the impact of CPD activities on clinical practice thwarts researchers’ assessment of the effectiveness of CPD activities. The objective of the study is to develop a theory and practice-based, valid, reliable national instrument to assess the impact of accredited CPD activities on reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in Kenya using an integrated model for the study of healthcare professionals’ behavior through environmental scanning of the factors that promote good performance. The researcher will analyze the instruments identified in a systematic review of factors motivating and demotivating nurses and midwives’ behaviours using criteria that reflect the literature on measurement development of CPD leaders and providers’ priorities. The outcome of this phase will be an inventory of instruments using a competence-based model. Working from this inventory, the most relevant items for assessing the concepts listed will be selected. Then, the researcher will verify whether these items are acceptable or need modification, what aspects need revision, and whether important items are missing and should be added. The outcome of this phase will be a new national instrument integrating the most relevant tools to fit our integrated model of healthcare professionals’ behavior. Two data collections are planned: 1) pretesting of the new instrument, to assess its reliability and validity and 2) a study using the instrument before and after CPD activities with randomly selected groups, one acting as control group to assess measurement effect. The researcher will conduct individual interviews and focus groups with CPD providers and leaders to identify anticipated barriers and enablers for implementing the new instrument in CPD practice. Drawing on the results from the previous phases, we will use consensus-building methods with the decision makers to develop a plan to implement the new instrument.
Highlights
There is need to strengthen their skills through continuing professional development(CPD).Anecdotal evidence suggest that increasing demands on service delivery have reduced time available for CPD activities in many countries coupled with less support from service providers in relation to staff needs [14]
The broad objective of the study will be to evaluate the impact of CPD activities for nurses and midwives in reducing maternal mortality in Embu County, Kenya by developing an evaluation tool
As a result a national tool will be developed which will guide in the evaluation of CPD activities in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in the country
Summary
“Evaluation is as a basic to professional development as it is to education”. as is so often the case in nursing and midwifery, systematic evaluations of professional development programs are rarely undertaken. As competent care providers, midwives detect problems early in complicated births, take appropriate life-saving actions immediately and refer where appropriate Their critical thinking and decision making skills contribute to the saving of lives by making timely decisions and action taking [13]. In this regard there is need to strengthen their skills through continuing professional development(CPD).Anecdotal evidence suggest that increasing demands on service delivery have reduced time available for CPD activities in many countries coupled with less support from service providers in relation to staff needs [14]. The fast generation of overwhelming information of health and complexity in technologies in the 21st century poses the greatest challenge to health care workers ability to provide effective and efficient high quality and up to date health care services
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