Utilizing a Continuing Education Workshop to Increase Knowledge of Documentation Among Hospital Psychosocial Staff

ABSTRACT

Hospital-based psychosocial staff including social workers, mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists utilize documentation skills to assess, treat, and manage patients admitted to inpatient settings. Little research exists that examines the impact of continuing education on documentation skills. This study examined changes in hospital-based psychosocial staff perceptions of their documentation skills after attending a two-part continuing education documentation workshop. The quantitative, pretest–posttest design utilized a convenience sample that included 32 staff members at pretest and 30 staff members completing the posttest. Results from the 51-item pretest and posttest survey indicate that the continuing education workshop statistically increased participants’ knowledge of progress notes and termination summaries. Findings did not indicate any differences when comparing knowledge, at the start of the workshop, for employees with prior documentation training, longer work experience, or different license groups. The authors discuss implications for practice, continuing education, and future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work documentation
• continuing education
• social work notes
• hospital documentation