Continuing professional education (CPE) must assume a new agenda consistent with emancipatory and transformative perspectives of the learning organization. Principles from the work of Gramsci and Freire inform this agenda, focused on the why more than the how of CPE and professional practice. (SK)

Continuing professional education practitioners often face ethical dilemmas regarding their obligations to multiple stakeholders and issues arising in new arenas such as the workplace, distance education, and collaboration with business. Codes of ethics can guide practice, but practitioners should also identify their personal core values system…

Outlines criteria for evaluating professional continuing education courses: standard of higher education, justification for training supply, compliance with objectives, high quality of instructors, transparency of the educational process, functional practical arrangements, appropriate instructional arrangements, adequacy of quality assurance…

Twenty acute-care case managers identified the skills and knowledge nurses need in the case-manager role. The top three educational need areas were community resources, discharge planning, and third-party reimbursement. (SK)

Questionnaires and small-group discussions with a physician-ethicist revealed that physicians had very little formal ethics training in medical school. They did not feel they needed a very high level of confidence regarding ethical issues in practice, but lacked a systematic approach to identification and analysis of ethical issues. (Contains 24…

Introduction: Continuing medical education (CME) is an important resource physicians use to maintain their clinical competence. While many options for CME programs are available, there are few measures of their impact and few measures for physicians to use to systematically gauge their efforts in maintaining competence. This study initiates a…

Evidence-based practice (EBP) requires practitioners to identify and formulate questions in response to patient encounters, and to seek, select, and appraise applicable clinical research. A standardized workshop format serves as the model for training of medical educators in these skills. We developed an evaluation exercise to assess the ability…

This article provides an overview of problem-based learning (PBL) in Canadian undergraduate medical education and continuing medical education (CME) programs. The CME field in Canada is described, and the major professional associations that require physicians to take annual courses and programs are noted. A brief history of PBL in undergraduate…

Physicians have acknowledged information technology (IT) efficiency and now utilize it in their professional practice and patient management. The benefits of IT within the health care environment has received academic attention, however existing literature currently pertains to limited areas, including the financial effects of telemedicine…

Introduction: There is much in the literature regarding the potential for commercial bias in clinical research and in continuing medical education (CME), but no studies were found regarding the potential for bias in reporting original research in CME venues. This pilot study investigated the presence of perceived bias in oral and print content of…

This paper outlines the approach of one higher education institution in England to the research dialogue involved in designing an M.A. Education programme that focuses on partnership collaborations in postgraduate professional development with school-based staff groups as a catalyst to sustainable school improvement. The paper draws on the model…

This article reports on a needs assessment study which investigated Greek Cypriot teachers' in-service training needs in the context of local demands for educational reform and the drive to reformulate teachers' professional development. Data presented in the article were collected through open-ended questionnaires in addition to individual and…

Introduction: Mentoring is a central component of professional development. Evaluation of "successful" mentoring programs, however, has been limited and mainly focused on measures of satisfaction with the relationship. In today's environment, mentoring programs must produce tangible outcomes to demonstrate success. To address this issue,…

This article suggests that the union learning representative (ULR) is increasingly situated at the heart of trade union activity. The paper draws upon recent research based on interviews with national trade union officers and case studies of union learning activity to explore the competing demands being made upon ULRs and the implications for…

This paper reports on a research project that sought to gain a deeper understanding of the contribution that universities make to the professional learning of teachers. The particular case studied was a group of learners who were engaged in an in-service teacher education course for further education (FE) whilst also working as lecturers in FE…