ACEhp CPD Pulse Points October Edition: Program Planning & Design

In April, the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions (ACEhp) began a weekly series of webinars called "CPD Pulse Points." In each session, Chitra Subramanian, current ACEhp president, has a conversation with a guest about a topic relevant to health care continuing professional development (CPD) today. Access is free for ACEhp members. Non-members can attend the live sessions for $5 or purchase a recording for $25. Each session is recorded and made available for learners who are unable to attend the live meeting, so if any of the sessions sound interesting to you, they are available for viewing in full.

While there were five Thursdays in October, one session was canceled at the last minute, so there were still only four CPD Pulse Points. Remarkably, three of these four are categorized as Program Planning & Design on the ACEhp website, so after the past few grab bag months, October did have somewhat of a unifying theme.

• 1.) We're living in a time of change. (I probably don't need to tell you that.) And while change can lead to innovation, it isn't easy. It requires a choice between doing something differently or staying on the same path. Change-driven innovation is not a straight line. Hopefully we're starting to work our way out of the dip caused by everything that 2020 has thrown at us.
• 2.) We may be accustomed to systems-thinking at the organizational level, but do we apply that to the planning process? By turning the educational process into a Learning Health System, we can link together networks, self-study, and adaptation, hopefully becoming more agile in identifying needs and transforming how we care for patients.
• 3.) As a whole, your organization may be very traditional, but you can still apply agile thinking and practices to your activity planning process simply by focusing on your learners. What's in it for them? What does their journey through this activity or curriculum look like, not just within the course itself but how will it fit into the rest of their lives? You don't have to force all of the agile principles into your organization if they aren't ready or interesting, but you may want to consider adopting some of the aspects or concepts into your own team or work.
• 4.) So far, the research on interprofessional education (IPE) is inconclusive. Part of the problem is that we don't have a shared definition of what IPE is. While we have research showing that functional teams provide better care, we're still struggling with creating IPE that results in functional teams. Most attendees reported that the biggest challenge with IPE is buy-in from stakeholders or a lack of balance between the professions that are part of the team, so the inconclusive results make sense.
• 5.) We have a lot of opportunities to reshape how our teams work and the sort of education we provide as long as we're ready to do it.

The following are the sessions held in October.

Innovating through the Chaos, October 1, 2020 (slides and additional resources available for free)

Emergencies Driving Implementation in Learning Health Systems, October 8, 2020 (slides available for free)

Agile Practices in Instructional Design and Delivery, October 15, 2020 (slides available for free)

Don't Segment the Problem: An Approach to Interprofessional Continuing Education, October 29, 2020 (slides available for free) 

Image credit: Ranjithsiji. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0