Pharmacists' perceptions of facilitators and barriers to lifelong learning.

OBJECTIVES: To reevaluate facilitators of and barriers to pharmacists' participation in lifelong learning previously examined in a 1990 study. METHODS: A survey instrument was mailed to 274 pharmacists who volunteered to participate based on a prior random sample survey. Data based on perceptions of facilitators and barriers to lifelong learning, as well as self-perception as a lifelong learner, were analyzed and compared to a similar 1990 survey. RESULTS: The response rate for the survey was 88%. The top 3 facilitators and barriers to lifelong learning from the 2003 and the 1990 samples were: (1) personal desire to learn; (2) requirement to maintain professional licensure; and (3) enjoyment/relaxation provided by learning as change of pace from the "routine." The top 3 barriers were: (1) job constraints; (2) scheduling (location, distance, time) of group learning activities; and (3) family constraints (eg, spouse, children, personal). Respondents' broad self-perception as lifelong learners continued to be highly positive overall, but remained less positive relative to more specific lifelong learning skills such as the ability to identify learning objectives as well as to evaluate learning outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Little has changed in the last decade relative to how pharmacists view themselves as lifelong learners, as well as what they perceive as facilitators and barriers to lifelong learning. To address factors identified as facilitators and barriers, continuing education (CE) providers should focus on pharmacists' time constraints, whether due to employment, family responsibilities, or time invested in the educational activity itself, and pharmacists' internal motivations to learn (personal desire, enjoyment), as well as external forces such as mandatory CE for relicensure.

Validation of a formula for assigning continuing education credit to printed home study courses.

OBJECTIVES: To reevaluate and validate the use of a formula for calculating the amount of continuing education credit to be awarded for printed home study courses. METHODS: Ten home study courses were selected for inclusion in a study to validate the formula, which is based on the number of words, number of final examination questions, and estimated difficulty level of the course. The amount of estimated credit calculated using the a priori formula was compared to the average amount of time required to complete each article based on pharmacists' self-reporting. RESULTS: A strong positive relationship between the amount of time required to complete the home study courses based on the a priori calculation and the times reported by pharmacists completing the 10 courses was found (p < 0.001). The correlation accounted for 86.2% of the total variability in the average pharmacist reported completion times (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The formula offers an efficient and accurate means of determining the amount of continuing education credit that should be assigned to printed home study courses.