Optimizing Take-Away Resources from Accredited Activities: Survey Findings, Pearls, and Pitfalls (Level 3)

Session Description: Among the primary goals of continuing professional education is to impart knowledge and guidance in a way that supports positive practice change, with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes. But how do we help ensure that knowledge gained during a CE activity is actually carried over into practice? As educators, how do we make our content “stick”? What is the best way to reinforce key educational messages? How do we reach patients through education that is developed primarily for clinicians? A common solution to these questions is to provide take-away educational resources. This approach is backed by research and adult learning principles that encourage provision of tools to support continued reflection on educational content and emphasizing practice modification. Numerous studies have investigated the impact of educational resources on patient outcomes, knowledge retention, adherence to treatment plans, and overall patient satisfaction. These resources can vary in format, content, and delivery, but are generally designed to be tools learners can use when they are back in their practice—either for their own reference or to share with their patients.

This session will delve into numerous factors related to optimizing take-away educational resources. The content will be presented by a diverse panel of CPE professionals from varied settings and roles (including supporters and providers) and will be informed by real-world experiences of the panelists. Additionally, findings from the Integritas May 2023 Clinician Survey that evaluated clinician perspectives and practices related to take-away educational resources will be shared with the audience and used to inform the discussion topics, which will be centered around the following key inquiries:

What Are My Options?

Panelists will review both common and unique types of take-away resources and their varied means for distribution. A comprehensive rollcall of print and electronic media options will be provided, with a discussion of the key goals for each format. Consideration will be given to tools designed to improve clinician and patient knowledge/awareness, as well as those created to address social determinants of health (SDOH) that often impact care. A sample of the various resources that will be discussed include: Clinician Pocket Guides and Reference Sheets; Clinician-Patient Communication Tools; Patient-Awareness Wall Posters, Handouts, and Brochures; Community Resource Tools; Mobile-based Learning Tools; and other unique print and online formats.

Do They Use Them or Lose Them?

As diligent educators, we spend significant time and resources developing take-away tools to enhance learning, retention, and practice changes. But we often wonder if clinicians are actually using these tools. Does the patient-awareness poster distributed at a live meeting make it back to the clinic? And if it does, does it ever make it up on a wall for patient viewing? How do we know if clinicians are actually using the tools we provide? These are among the questions that motivated the Integritas 2023 Clinician Survey, the findings of which will be presented during this segment of the session. Discussion will center on varied means to assess the utilization and impact of resource tools, including challenges of balancing desire for meaningful data with cost and other implementation barriers.

Does Size Matter?

Though clinician preferences and needs vary from person to person, are there certain resource types that are deemed more broadly valuable than others? What are those formats, and what are the characteristics that influence utility in practice? Again, results of the 2023 Clinician Survey will be shared to illuminate preferences and priorities for take-away resources. Nuances of resource size, style, and how they are accessed will be discussed, and pearls and pitfalls related to optimizing exposure to and utilization of clinician and patient resources will be provided. Consideration will be given to the importance of understanding target-audience baseline knowledge levels, greatest areas of need, literacy level, competing priorities, and potential language barriers.

Fab or Flop: What Can We Learn from Our Successes and Failures?

In this final segment, panelists will present several case studies related to the provision of take-away resources across multiple program types and delivery mechanisms. These case studies will be designed to illustrate common challenges, solutions, and best practices. They may include such things as: optimization of uptake of materials from online activities, unique approaches to providing resources that address SDOH barriers to care, new technologies for delivery of follow-on education support and/or patient education, and practical considerations related to cost/benefit with varied interventions and measurement/reporting.

This segment will conclude with an interactive, audience-participation exercise. Designed as a fast-moving “60-second Spotlight”, multiple audience members will have just one minute to convey the pearl, pitfall, or best practice they feel will be most valuable to their peers. (The audience will be made aware of this exercise at the beginning of the session, so they have time to contemplate what they would like to share.)

This session is appropriate for all Alliance Member Sections, and particularly for those who create and distribute accredited education, as educational reinforcement and support of positive practice change are needs seen across all organizational settings. As noted above, audience interaction will be encouraged, and issues and challenges across varied provider settings will be elucidated. Time will be allotted for audience questions and further discussion.

Upon completion of this session, participants will have a better understanding of which take-away resources are most valuable for a given goal and how they can customize content and delivery to optimize impact for different topic areas and target audiences. Attendees will be able to return to the office with new and creative ideas—as well as practical implementation insights—to help them develop and deliver effective take-home resources to support their live and online educational programming.