%A Monica P Haw
%T An assessment of the live course component of the International Antiviral Society -- USA's continuing medical education program: a summative program evaluation
%X Public health relevance: There is a necessity for the evaluation of methods used to disseminate pertinent information gleaned from clinical research to clinical practitioners in order to aid in the improvement and evolution of clinical practice; thus, improving medical care. Introduction: The International Antiviral Society?USA (IAS?USA) is a non-profit organization that aims to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice for HIV practitioners by effectively disseminating information from researchers to physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and other health workers who treat HIV positive individuals via various continuing medical education (CME) activities. As an organization funded though external resources, evaluations are necessary to assess the program?s progress and impact; results from evaluations will be used to report back to financial contributors. This evaluation seeks to assess the effectiveness and relevance of the IAS?USA?s live course CME program. Methods: Several indicators were chosen in order to answer the following questions: (1) is the program reaching the desired target audience? (2) is the content of the courses relevant to that audience? (3) do the live courses contain quality content; (4) are the courses effective at disseminating said content? (5) are the participants retaining the information? and finally, (6) is the information sparking change in clinical practice? Data were gathered via knowledge assessments given on-site and online in addition to evaluations and outcomes surveys distributed via SurveyMonkey, an online survey tool. Results: This study found that 95.5% of participants consist of medical doctors and other medical practitioners. Next, over 94% of the audience rated the overall quality of the courses and the relevance/value of the courses to clinical practice as either ?excellent? or ?good?. The courses proved to be effective at teaching relevant information with a statistically significant improvement in knowledge assessment scores. Additionally, all participants reported some level of information retention after 30 days with about 55% of individuals reporting a retention level of ?very well?. Finally, 25% of the audience who responded to the outcomes survey indicated that they changed their clinical practice; this percentage could be an underestimate considering that only 152 participants responded to the outcomes survey while 923 responded to the evaluation. Conclusion: Through analysis of the knowledge assessments, evaluations, and outcomes surveys it can be concluded that the live course component of the IAS?USA CME program is effective and helps the organization to achieve its goals to improve clinical care for individuals living with HIV.
%D 2016
%I University of Pittsburgh
%L pittir30564