Pathways to impact evaluation in continuing education in the health professions.

This article examines evaluation in continuing education (CE) in the health professions as defined as impact on health care provider competence, health care provider performance, or patient health status. A rationale for engaging in impact evaluation is presented. Areas for impact evaluation, sources of impact data, data collection methods, evaluation study design, and data analysis strategies are discussed. A brief literature review of past CE impact studies, three case studies of CE impact evaluations, and three examples of evaluation instruments are presented to help practitioners design effective evaluations in their own health care settings.