Establishing and Evaluating an ASCO Learning Cohort: a Longitudinal Project Assessing the Learning Needs and Behaviors of Oncology Professionals.

BACKGROUND: In 2013, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)'s Continuing Education Committee recommended establishing an interprofessional, longitudinal cohort pilot project. The main goals of the cohort were to gain feedback from oncology providers on how they use resources to address their learning needs and gain insights into the utility of different ASCO educational activities. METHODS: The ASCO Learning Cohort Pilot Project included 49 ASCO members that were representative of the overall Society membership demographics and ran from November 2015 through August 2016. Participants documented monthly learning needs and completed monthly feedback activities focused on specific ASCO educational resources. RESULTS: The Learning Cohort Pilot Project proved a viable and innovative cohort model for analyzing the learning process for oncology healthcare professionals. The development, operations, and compliance required unique infrastructure to accomplish this project. Relationships between participant demographic variables and learning preferences are reported elsewhere. CONCLUSION: The ASCO Learning Cohort Project is a unique educational project that demonstrated feasibility and has met its goals. This paper outlines the processes of establishing a learning cohort, including participant selection, project design, and participant feedback. We evaluate the project model as a means to better understand the learning needs and behaviors of oncology healthcare professionals.

Quantitative Assessment of Learning Behaviors for Oncology Providers.

How health care providers select topics and activities for learning is key to meeting their needs. The goal of this study was to investigate how oncology providers identify knowledge gaps and choose learning activities. An online focus group within a larger longitudinal study was conducted between November 2015 and August 2016. Participants were chosen by convenience and stratified random sampling of diverse types of oncology providers. Providers were asked monthly to identify learning needs, explain how they identified those needs, and describe the learning activity they chose to meet those needs. Thirty-two oncology providers recorded 201 learning needs via online journal entries (mean 6 entries per person). Needs were associated with practice setting and professional role (p < .05). Colleague recommendation predicted learning needs for advanced practice providers (APPs) (p = .003). Patient cases drove > 50% of identified learning needs across groups. Learning activity preferences were associated with practice setting (p < .05). Choice of learning activity was associated with practice setting, professional role, and geographic location. Colleague recommendation was important for APPs (p = .025). Over 75% of learner responses identify convenience and content quality as important factors in choosing an activity. This study represents a quantitative assessment of learning behaviors for oncology providers and shows that identification of learning needs and activity selection differ by provider demographics. Limitations include small size and underrepresentation of some groups. Our findings should be confirmed with larger samples. Future research should focus on assessment of cohort versus individual needs and learning priorities.

Quantitative Analysis of Oncology Professional Learning Preferences.

PURPOSE: ASCO is the premier and largest global professional society for oncology care professionals. In 2015, ASCO launched a longitudinal Learning Cohort Pilot Project to catalog and better understand the learning behaviors and preferences of oncology health care providers. A secondary goal was to assess learner preferences and utilization related to ASCO's portfolio of educational resources. METHODS: The Learning Cohort Pilot Project was conducted between November 2015 and August 2016 with 49 ASCO members. Participants were selected via convenience sampling and stratified random sampling to generate a cohort that mirrored the demographic distribution of overall ASCO membership. Participants completed a different ASCO resource-specific feedback activity each month, which measured professional educational needs, sources sought, and preferences for educational resources. Responses were organized by demographic variables in our participant pool to identify trends in provider learning preferences. Fisher's exact test was used to assess the association between participant demographics and practice setting and responses. Holm's procedure was used to adjust for multiple testing. RESULTS: The Learning Cohort Pilot Project revealed statistically significant relationships between participant demographic variables and learning preferences. Age and practice setting were the demographic variables most consistently associated with the different preferences explored throughout the targeted activities. CONCLUSION: The results of this pilot cohort reinforced the hypothesis that oncology care providers have different professional educational needs and preferences that can be potentially anticipated and met with tailored resources. Delivering solutions to meet these needs represents an opportunity for further research and resource development.