Needs Assessment Guidelines

Needs assessment is the systematic process of gathering information and using it to determine instructional solutions to close the gap between:

Actual: What learners know & do AND Optimal: What learners should know & do

Identification and analysis of CME needs provide the basis for developing educational objectives. The planning committee should ask the following questions:

• How prevalent is the need among the target audience?
• How many different assessment sources indicated this need?
• How significantly will the unfulfilled need hinder health care delivery?
• How directly is the need related to actual physician performance?
• How likely is it that a CME activity will improve practice behavior?
• Are sufficient resources available to effectively address this topic?
• How receptive will the target audience be to a session on this topic?

Types of Needs Assessment

Submit with application:

• Inferred needs which may be derived from the following:
  • New methods of diagnosis or treatment
  • Availability of new medication(s) or indication(s)
  • Development of new technology
  • Input from experts regarding advances in medical knowledge
  • Acquisition of new facilities or equipment
  • Legislative, regulatory, or organizational changes effecting patient care
• Verbalized needs and interests which may be derived from the following:
  • Requests submitted on participants' activity evaluation forms
  • Formal surveys of potential participants (mail and Internet-based)
  • Informal comments
  • Patient problem inventories compiled by potential participants
  • Consensus of faculty members within a department or service area
• Proven needs which are based on objective external data sources. These needs may be derived from the following:
  • Epidemiological data
  • Quality assurance/audit data
  • Re-credential review
  • Morbidity/Mortality
  • Statistics Infection control data
  • Surgical procedures statistics
  • Professional society requirements
  • Journal articles/literature citations
  • News media

Please view the following ACCME video on understanding moving beyond the traditional needs assessment.

Quality Data & Resources

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Research and Data
• Hospital Compare - A quality tool provided by Medicare - U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
• Hospital Performance Data - Ohio Department of Health
• Ohio KePRO - Ohio's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization
• Wright State University Libraries (must have UID and pin to access subscription services). Contact Bette Sydelko for help
• Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (must have UID and pin for free access)
• Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) - Recommended Starter Set The Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance
• AHRQ Quality Measurement Tools & Resources
• AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
• ASCO/NCCN - Quality Measures: Breast and Colorectal Cancers
• Hospital Quality Alliance
• AHRQ National Quality Measures Clearinghouse
• National Committee on Quality Assurance - Statistics from Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures
• Commonwealth Fund - 2006 National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance
• Joint Commission - Core performance measures
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network - Clinical guidelines in oncology
• AHRQ and National Quality Measures Clearinghouse - Guidelines and measures
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Physician Quality Reporting Initiative
• AHRQ Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Initiative
• TransforMed - Information on Practice Redesign
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement

For more information, please read Fall 2009 CME Highlights.