Abstract

Background and Objectives: Continuing medical education (CME) promotes the upkeep of clinical skills, helps maintain performance, and ensures positive patient outcomes. Practitioners in rural areas often require a wider range of procedural skills but may lack access to CME due to geographical distance and coverage issues. The state of Iowa faces a documented shortage of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (OB/GYN), making continuing education especially critical. The objective of this study was to examine the role of the University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC) OB/GYN CME program in maintaining up-to-date clinical knowledge in resource-limited areas. The program's impact was evaluated using Moore’s Seven Levels to provide a structured assessment of educational outcomes. 

Methods: Data was collected via post-course surveys administered by the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine CME Office following the annual UIHC Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology postgraduate courses from 2018 to 2024. A total of 84 CME presentations were evaluated. Because of variations in data collection across the years, the evaluation focused on four of Moore’s Seven Levels: participation, satisfaction, declarative knowledge, and competence. Records and survey responses were tallied and categorized to assess these metrics. 

Results: A total of 760 individuals registered for the conference between 2018 and 2024. Over the seven-year period, 99% of respondents indicated that the activities were free from commercial bias. Furthermore, an average of 77.69% of the presentations were rated as "Excellent" or "Very Good". From 2019 to 2024, an average of 99.30% of surveyed participants reported that the educational objectives of the courses were successfully achieved. An average of 85.5% of participants anticipated making clinical, teaching, or other professional practice changes as a direct result of the CME activities. Participants also consistently reported moderate to substantial improvements in their abilities to communicate and collaborate with their healthcare teams. 

Conclusion: The UIHC postgraduate CME meetings consistently provide high-quality, unbiased educational content that successfully drives practitioner competence. Transitioning to a virtual tele-education format successfully reduced barriers to participation for providers in rural Iowa. Continuing to offer accessible CME is vital for addressing maternal care deserts and expanding the knowledge base of providers, particularly given UIHC's role as the state's only Level IV maternal and neonatal medical center. 

Keywords: Women’s health, continuing medical education, Iowa, rural

How to Cite:

Please cite this paper as: Schnoebelen S, Raw L, Santillan MK, Santillan DA. Multi-year evaluation of the Annual Postgraduate Education Course in Obstetrics & Gynecology at University of Iowa Health Care. Proc Obstet Gynecol. 2025;14: Article 3 [8 p.]. Available from: https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu  Free full text article.

Rights:

Copyright: © 2025 Schnoebelen, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.