Translating evidence into practice: Lessons for CPD

Abstract

Background: Failure to translate best evidence into practice often generates inappropriate, unsafe, and costly healthcare. The continuing professional development (CPD) of physicians and other health professionals represents a widely underutilized strategy to improve both clinician performance and healthcare quality and safety.

The evidence: Despite the clear evidence of the potential impact of CPD based in learning theory and science, some CPD providers, health systems, and clinicians themselves implement less-than-effective effective learning strategies. This phenomenon is the product of several factors: within health systems, a lack of recognition of the importance of ongoing, system-linked professional education; among CPD providers, an adherence to old but easy-to-deliver “one-and-done” methods CPD; and even among clinicians themselves, choosing less engaging learning activities, uninformed by objective performance data.

Recommendation: Suggestions to improve this lack of translation of best evidence into practice fall into four groups. Academic medical institutions, employers and educators need to embrace principles and practices of self-directed learning; health systems must share responsibility for the physician learning and the performance data and feedback on which such learning is best-based; physician specialty societies and licensing boards must undertake meaningful re-licensure and re-certification processes; and CPD planners must seek out partnerships with health system leadership and quality improvement managers as they create engaging, integrated, and impactful CPD activities.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David A. (Dave) Davis

David A. (Dave) Davis, MD, CCFP, FCFP, FRCPC(hon), Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Professor, Medical Education and Senior Director, Center for Outcomes & Research in Education, Mohamed Bin Rashid University, Dubai, UAE.

Graham T. McMahon

Graham T. McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, Chicago, IL, USA; Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Medical Education, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.