Speaker Resources For Continuing Education Programs

A gap analysis can be easily described as the gap between what the current state of pharmacy practice is and where the practice should or needs to be (what should the pharmacist and/or pharmacy technician be doing).

When trying to identify the gap analysis in practice, ask what the target audience is currently doing in practice, whether there is an existing problem in practice, change needed in practice, new research the target audience should be made aware of, new evidence-based practices, or an opportunity for improvement in practice. After identifying the problem, identify if the gap is attributed to the target audience’s knowledge, skill or application, or practice. This will determine if your CE will be a knowledge, application, or practice-based CE. After identifying the gap analysis and what the gap is attributed to (knowledge, application, or practice), you can now create your objectives.

A needs assessment is required before planning CPE activities to identify specific gaps between what participants know and what is needed and desired in practice. It is often the “data” your gap analysis is based upon.

Multiple assessment strategies should be used to identify the specific gaps in knowledge/skills/areas of enhancement including periodic surveys of the targeted audience(s), the use of an advisory/planning committee that includes representative members of the intended target audience, suggestions from participants listed on past evaluation CPE forms from the provider, review of professional literature and trends in the profession, or audits of professional practice to identify areas in need of strengthening. Please refer to these resources when planning your needs assessment for your CE program.

Learning objectives are required to offer educational credit for an activity. A learning objective is a clear statement linking the identified need with the anticipated results (outcome). Learning objectives must be specific and measurable, developed to specifically address the identified educational need, and help to create the learning outcomes defining what the healthcare provider should be able to do after completing the CPE activity.

Your objective verb should match the level of learning you have identified that will take place in the CE (knowledge, application, or practice). This means, that if your CE is a knowledge-based CE, your objective verbs should all be knowledge-based and if your CE is application-based, your objective verbs will be mainly application-based with possibly one knowledge-level objective verb.

See example learning objectives below.

Now that you have determined what you want to teach, and crafted learning objectives that fit the type of CE you are presenting, how do you keep your audience engaged?  This is where having at least one active learning strategy in your presentation comes in handy. So what is an active learning strategy and how do you choose one?

Active learning is defined by ACPE as, “a process whereby pharmacists and/or pharmacy technicians are actively engaged in the learning process, rather than ‘passively’ absorbing lectures. Active learning involves reading, writing, discussion, and engagement in solving problems, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Faculty usually takes a more guiding role.”

Active learning engages the audience and promotes critical thinking. It has been shown to increase the retention of knowledge of planned learning outcomes in comparison to traditional teaching methods. It also allows the speaker to “check in” with the audience in real time to ensure they are learning and retaining the information being presented as well as clarify and correct misunderstandings.

Learning assessments are used to determine the achievement of objectives.

Creating assessment questions

Speakers are required to include a self-assessment question to assess learner understanding for each listed objective. Please provide at minimum 5 assessment questions and include the answer key with correct answers and rationales.

Use the following guidelines when creating self-assessment questions:

• Questions may be written in the form of multiple choice, true/false, patient case or case scenario, demonstrations, or other assessment question formats
• Questions should be complete, clear, concise, unambiguous, and measure one objective for which it was designed. Avoid using abbreviations, slang, technical jargon, and trade names for drugs
• Pose the question in the affirmative. Questions should avoid the use of negative statements (such as not and except) and absolutes (all, always, never)
• Ensure that each self-assessment question is similar in terms of grammatical construction, length, and complexity. Avoid using too much text, extraneous or unnecessary information
• Choices for answers to self-assessment questions should be uniform in length and style and grammatically consistent with the question
• Do not use the same or similar words in either the question or the correct answer, as this may provide the reader with clues to the correct answer

Presentation slides are used to convey information and should not be read to the audience. Presentation slides must be forwarded for review on content and balance. Speakers may be asked to make changes to meet all activity and/or ACPE requirements. Please consider the following guidelines when presenting educational content and preparing slides.

• Include a title slide. Be sure to match the title slide to the approved CPE activity title
• Include your name, credentials, and professional title
• Add a Disclosure slide, listing any relevant financial relationships (must be included, even if you have nothing to disclose)
• Add a Learning Objectives slide at the beginning of your presentation
• Add “Questions?” slide at the conclusion of your presentation
• Use no more than 6 lines of text per slide
• Use a large enough font size (e.g., 36); text size should be consistent
• Use an easy-to-read font (e.g., Times New Roman, Arial)
• Limit titles to one line
• “Safe” color combinations: (a) royal blue, navy blue, or black background with yellow titles/highlights and white print; (b) forest green background with gold titles/highlights and white print; (c) burgundy background with beige titles/highlights and white print; and (d) white or yellow background with black or dark blue titles/highlights and print
• Avoid abbreviations or acronyms
• List references in superscript on the slides with the full reference in AMA format on the reference slides (at the end of the slide deck)
• Incorporate active learning exercises
• Incorporate learning assessment exercises