Medical Education Online (09/20/2022) Vol. 27, No. 1 Skapetis, Tony; Cheema, Simran; El Mustapha, Mariam

Researchers compared clinical professional development (CPD) and non-clinical continuing education (CE) from a large dental hospital to evaluate oral healthcare workers' CPD and CE attendance preferences. For the retrospective cross-sectional survey, the authors collected self-reported evaluations for 8,640 attendees at 160 CPD/CE sessions over eight years. Clinical CPD examples included clinical case presentations, specialty and discipline-specific topics (pedodontics, prosthodontics, special needs, and endodontics), infection control, diabetes management, and medical emergencies. Non-clinical CE examples covered customer service, personal inspiration, leadership, empowerment, cultural competence, communication, mindfulness, and meditation. Most responses were from clinical staff and commented on clinical CPD. Attendee position type correlated with attendance of either clinical CPD or non-clinical CE. Compared with dentists and specialists, dental assistants rated the programs higher for accuracy, relevance, knowledge improvement, and value of knowledge. Additionally, clinical CPD was found to have greater relevance and increased knowledge, while presenter quality and overall mean scores were rated higher for non-clinical CE. The authors suggest the results "may help dispel the assumption that non-clinical participants would have a preference for attending non-clinical CE. Despite this, non-clinical CE was scored higher by both clinical and non-clinical participants and should be considered for inclusion in any CPD/CE program within a similar context."

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