Holuby Ronnie Scott, Pellegrin Karen L, Barbato Anna, Ciarleglio Anita
San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, TX, USA;
Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI, USA.
Med Educ Online. 2015 Nov 6;20:28958. doi: 10.3402/meo.v20.28958. eCollection 2015.
The availability of rural healthcare is a growing concern in the United States as fewer healthcare providers choose to work in rural areas. Accessing quality continuing education (CE) for rural healthcare practitioners (HCPs) remains a challenge and may pose a barrier to quality care.
To maximize attendance at a live, in-person, free CE program focusing on geriatric medication and issues specifically targeted to HCPs in rural areas, two methods were implemented sequentially. The first method used formal advertising implemented by a professional marketing service to promote CE events. The second method enlisted local healthcare organizations and physician groups to promote the CE event to their employees. Cost per attendee was calculated for comparison.
Professional marketing services recruited 31 HCPs (March 2011) and resulted in a per-participant recruitment cost of US$428.62. Local healthcare organizations and physician groups' marketing recruited 48 HCPs (July-August 2011) and resulted in a per-participant recruitment cost of US$55.19.
Providing free CE coordinated through local healthcare organizations and physician groups was the most cost-effective method of recruiting rural HCPs for CE. Formal advertising added cost without increasing the number of participants per event. Although this is the first study of the cost-effectiveness of recruitment methods targeting HCPs in rural areas, results are consistent with research on cost-effectiveness of outreach to rural lay community members.
在美国，随着越来越少的医疗服务提供者选择在农村地区工作，农村医疗服务的可及性日益受到关注。农村医疗从业者获得高质量的继续教育仍然是一项挑战，这可能会对优质医疗服务构成障碍。
为了最大限度地提高一个聚焦老年用药及专门针对农村地区医疗从业者的现场面对面免费继续教育项目的参与度，依次实施了两种方法。第一种方法是利用专业营销服务进行正式宣传，以推广继续教育活动。第二种方法是争取当地医疗组织和医生团体向其员工宣传该继续教育活动。计算了每位参与者的成本以作比较。
专业营销服务招募了31名医疗从业者（2011年3月），每位参与者的招募成本为428.62美元。当地医疗组织和医生团体的宣传招募了48名医疗从业者（2011年7 - 8月），每位参与者的招募成本为55.19美元。
通过当地医疗组织和医生团体协调提供免费继续教育是为农村医疗从业者招募参加继续教育最具成本效益的方法。正式宣传增加了成本，却没有增加每次活动的参与者数量。尽管这是第一项针对农村地区医疗从业者招募方法成本效益的研究，但其结果与针对农村普通社区成员的外展活动成本效益研究一致。
