AN INNOVATIVE MODEL FOR
EXAMINING INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING NEEDS AND FACTORS
INFLUENCING EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAINING
Sheila W. Chauvin, MEd, PhD*;
Jack Scott, EdD, MPH; Tong Yang, MD, MS, Geoffrey Wiggins, MS;
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, School of
Medicine at New Orleans;
and Sue Ann Sarpy, PhD and Ann C. Anderson, PhD,
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine,
New Orleans, Louisiana, 70112, USA
While identifying training needs and priorities has always been
an important component of professional development, the need for effective
training needs assessment has become even greater in light of
competency-based education and training initiatives.
More recently, professional organizations (e.g., AAMC, ACGME, CDC)
have encouraged particular attention to new areas of competency-based
training and performance in health professions (e.g., bioterrorism and
emergency preparedness and response) across the education and career
continuum.
Training effectiveness is also recognizably dependent upon
individual and organizational features that are not always understood
clearly or fully appreciated.
A 2.5 day Individual and
Organizational Needs Assessment (
IONA
) workshop model was created to target simultaneously the various levels
and phases of needs assessment and provide a systematic process for
prioritizing training needs.
Core competencies in bioterrorism and emergency preparedness served
as the content focus and statewide organizational features were examined
systematically.
A set of importance and feasibility criteria were established and
used to prioritize training needs statements generated by each group of
participants for each of the core competencies.
Data collection included both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Results support the
IONA
model as highly effective.
Results suggest that the model is applicable for a variety of
professions, organizational contexts, and content/performance areas.
An added feature of the
IONA
model is the educative benefit for participants, especially when
training/performance expectations (e.g., competencies) are new and/or not
fully understood by stakeholders.
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