Educational needs of health professionals working in rheumatology in Europe

Prior, Yeliz

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the availability of postgraduate

education for health professionals (HPs) working in

rheumatology in Europe, and their perceived

educational needs and barriers for participation in

current educational offerings.

Methods: Structured interviews were conducted with

national representatives of rheumatology HPs’

organisations and an online survey among individual

HPs was disseminated through existing European

League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) networks (10

languages including English). These comprised

questions on: availability of postgraduate education,

familiarity with EULAR and its educational offerings,

unmet needs regarding the contents and mode of

delivery and potential barriers to participate in

education (0–10 scales).

Results: According to 17 national representatives,

postgraduate rheumatology education was most

common for nurses, physical and occupational

therapists. There were 1041 individuals responding to

the survey, of whom 48% completed all questions.

More than half (56%) were familiar with EULAR as an

organisation, whereas <25% had attended the EULAR

congress or were familiar with EULAR online courses.

Educational needs regarding contents were highest for

‘inflammatory arthritis’ and ‘connective tissue diseases’

and regarding modes of delivery for ‘courses organised

in own country’ and ‘online courses’. Important barriers

to participation included lack of ‘resources’, ‘time’ and

‘English language skills’. Overall, there was considerable

variation in needs and barriers among countries.

Conclusions: There is a lack of postgraduate

rheumatology education for HPs in most countries. There

are opportunities to raise awareness regarding EULAR

educational offerings and to develop courses provided in

HPs’ own country, tailored to national needs and barriers

and taking language barriers into consideration.

• Online Publication Date: Jun 25, 2020
• Publication Date: Jun 25, 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2025
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17866/rd.salford.7637633.v1
• Publisher URL: https://salford.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Educational_needs_of_health_professionals_working_in_rheumatology_in_Europe/7637633
• Collection Date: Jun 25, 2020