Patient Safety and Quality of Care are Everybody's Business: Evaluating the Impact of a Continuing Professional Development Program beyond Satisfaction

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. BackgroundResearch integrating Continuing Professional Development (CPD) with patient safety (PS) and quality improvement (QI) is still in its infancy despite advocacy by leaders in the field.ObjectivesThis theory-driven study explored the feasibility to implement and evaluate the impact of a CPD intervention focused on teaching and practicing PS and QI at the levels of satisfaction, usefulness, knowledge, confidence, intention to change behaviour and reported changes in practice.MethodsThree workshops targeting healthcare professionals were delivered live between 2014 and 2016. Data was collected longitudinally through four questionnaires and analyzed with descriptive statistics and triangulation of sources. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework.ResultsSixty-seven healthcare professionals participated in the study. Across workshops, satisfaction was high and a significant increase in knowledge and confidence were reported immediately post-intervention. Intention to change behavior was high across workshops. 'Moral norm' and 'beliefs about consequences' were consistently rated as the most influential factors in participants' intention to change behavior while 'social influence' was consistently rated as the least influential. At the workshops, participants anticipated improving communication, increasing their knowledge on PS-QI, applying content learned and building teamwork. Commonly anticipated barriers to implementation included lack of resources, environmental stressors, and the organizational climate/culture. These barriers were confirmed six-month post where participants reported partially implementing 78% (18/23) anticipated goals.ConclusionsThis study showed the feasibility to develop and implement an effective CPD intervention supporting healthcare professionals' knowledge, confidence, and reported change in teaching and practicing PS-QI.