Educational readiness among health professionals in rheumatology: Low awareness of EULAR offerings and unfamiliarity with the course content as major barriers—results of a EULAR-funded European survey

Ritschl, Valentin; Sperl, Lisa; Andrews, Margaret Renn; Björk, Mathilda; Boström, Carina; Cappon, Jeannette; Davergne, Thomas; de la Torre-Aboki, Jenny; de Thurah, Annette; Domján, Andrea; Dragoi, Razvan Gabriel; Estévez-López, Fernando; Ferreira, Ricardo J.O.; Fragoulis, George E.; Grygielska, Jolanta; Kõrve, Katti; Kukkurainen, Marja Leena; Madelaine-Bonjour, Christel; Marques, Andréa; Meesters, Jorit; Moe, Rikke Helene; Moholt, Ellen; Mosor, Erika; Naimer-Stach, Claudia; Ndosi, Mwidimi; Pchelnikova, Polina; Primdahl, Jette; Putrik, Polina; Rausch Osthoff, Anne Kathrin; Smucrova, Hana; Testa, Marco; van Bodegom-Vos, Leti; Peter, Wilfred F.; Zangi, Heidi A.; Zimba, Olena; Vliet Vlieland, Theodora P.M.; Stamm, Tanja A.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ongoing education of health professionals in rheumatology (HPR) is critical for high-quality care. An essential factor is education readiness and a high quality of educational offerings. We explored which factors contributed to education readiness and investigated currently offered postgraduate education, including the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) offerings. METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS: We developed an online questionnaire, translated it into 24 languages and distributed it in 30 European countries. We used natural language processing and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation to analyse the qualitative experiences of the participants as well as descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression to determine factors influencing postgraduate educational readiness. Reporting followed the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys guideline. RESULTS: The questionnaire was accessed 3589 times, and 667 complete responses from 34 European countries were recorded. The highest educational needs were 'professional development', 'prevention and lifestyle intervention'. Older age, more working experience in rheumatology and higher education levels were positively associated with higher postgraduate educational readiness. While more than half of the HPR were familiar with EULAR as an association and the respondents reported an increased interest in the content of the educational offerings, the courses and the annual congress were poorly attended due to a lack of awareness, comparatively high costs and language barriers. CONCLUSIONS: To promote the uptake of EULAR educational offerings, attention is needed to increase awareness among national organisations, offer accessible participation costs, and address language barriers.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 29, 2023
• Online Publication Date: May 25, 2023
• Publication Date: May 25, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 28, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 30, 2023
• Journal: RMD Open
• Electronic ISSN: 2056-5933
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2023-003120
• Keywords: Immunology; Immunology and Allergy; Rheumatology
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10826961
• Publisher URL: https://rmdopen.bmj.com/content/9/2/e003120