title: E-learning and professional development--never too old to learn.
abstract: A growing concern among healthcare professionals is the need to continually update knowledge and skills in order to enhance clinical practice. It is recognized that there are major concerns about recruitment and retention of staff within health care, and an increasing need for greater emphasis on valuing the existing workforce. This article contributes to the debate about the role of e-learning in conjunction with continuing professional development (CPD) and personal professional development. It describes how healthcare professionals utilized an innovative, self-managed, pick-up and put-down distance learning module delivered online or by CD-ROM. Staff enrolled on the module were encouraged to complete a questionnaire online or by post upon completion of each unit; to enhance validity, telephone interviews were also conducted with selected staff. Results indicate that participants showed some improvement in all categories, especially patient care where 90% of staff reported some improvement after completing the course. This particular method of teaching and learning was shown to be favoured by staff as a method of CPD, and thus has the potential to enhance patient care.
authors.affiliation: Bradford College, West Yorkshire.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D016251:CD-ROM; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003200:Computer User Training / Q000379:methods*; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000379:methods*; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D004739:England; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D020407:Internet; D008875:Middle Aged; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013192:Staff Development / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires