The Current Learning Landscape of Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants examines preferences and educational needs for the growing sector of healthcare community
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs) are essential members of the healthcare community, and in response to their advocacy for increased professional autonomy, Charles Dillehay, MBA, CAE, Founder and CEO of Skin, Bones, Hearts & Private Parts, and Brian S. McGowan, PhD, FACEhp, current Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, ArcheMedX, Inc, a healthcare informatics and e-learning company, have published “The Current Learning Landscape of NPs/PAs.” The new white paper seeks to better understand today’s educational environment, preferences, and needs of licensed NPs and PAs and examines how to best deliver education for both audiences.
The paper, based on the results of a spring 2023 survey, reveals topics such as the cost of continuing education (CE) efforts; number of CE credit hours needed annually; percentage of CE expenses covered by employers; preferred format for earning CE; most-requested clinical area topics; and what CE conference features most influence participation, such as speakers, topics, affordability, and location.
“We discovered minimal contextual differences in the lifelong learning experiences and expectations between NPs and PAs,” Dillehay said. “Both prioritize live, in-person meetings, and we found that the topics covered during a CME conference are the primary drivers of participation for both audiences, particularly for cardiology, orthopedics, diabetes, infectious care, mental health, and dermatology.”
“We understand NPs’ and PAs’ desire to practice to the full extent of their education and training,” Dillehay added, “and we hope that this white paper will enable organizations that plan, design, or develop CE and continuing professional development (CPD) to provide programming that will allow NPs and PAs to stay abreast of the latest developments and meet licensing requirements, in an environment and format that most closely meets their needs and preferences.”
To download “The Current Learning Landscape of NPs/PAs,” please visit https://almanac.acehp.org/Education/Education-Article/the-current-learning-landscape-of-npspas.