Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP)
CME Mission

The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) is dedicated to improving reproductive health care through its high-quality continuing medical education (CME) activities.

Purpose

The education department supports ARHP’s central organizational mission by developing and implementing scientifically-based, practical education activities to meet the needs of its constituents. The education department’s annual plans are directly related to the organization’s strategic plan, including the long-term organizational goals. The activities are designed to:

• Address gaps in the quality and safety of reproductive health care as currently practiced and identified via needs assessment data;
• Advance learners’ competence (skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for performance) that will contribute to reproductive health services that are evidence-based, reflect the most recent clinical science, and promote patient-centered care, and;
• Improve learners’ performance in practice.

Target Audience

ARHP’s CME activities are designed to meet the educational needs of ARHP’s multidisciplinary constituency, including nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, students, educators and researchers. The primary audience for ARHP’s continuing education activities are professionals in the United States.

Content Areas

ARHP’s CME activities reflect the breadth of topics encompassed in reproductive health care, including abortion, adolescent health, contraception, emergency contraception, HIV/AIDS, male health, menopause, menstruation, pregnancy, reproductive cancers, reproductive genetics, sex and sexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases/infections, urogynecology, and related issues. Within this broad array of content areas, ARHP seeks to address those issues that are identified priorities for closing existing gaps in health care quality and are most relevant to the scope of practice of its constituents.

Type of Activities

ARHP offers a broad range of CME opportunities, utilizing teaching methods and media best suited to the type of educational activity and needs of the learners. Educational approaches include:

• Live conferences and workshops;
• Self-directed enduring materials in print and electronic formats, and;
• Web-based activities, including live and archived courses

ARHP engages in joint sponsorship offerings with other organizations sharing a common mission and/or educational objectives.

Expected Results

ARHP evaluates and assesses individual activities and the efforts of its overall education program. Expert evaluation contractors ensure accurate data analysis and unbiased reporting.

ARHP creates an individualized evaluation plan for each of its activities, often utilizing pre- and post-test data, immediate post-session evaluation data, and long-term post-session evaluation data to assess its activities. All individual activities are designed to achieve one or both of the following outcomes:

• Learners acquire new knowledge and/or strategies for the provision of reproductive health care that reflect best practices.
• Learners utilize competencies acquired through its educational activities to improve clinical practice.

Metrics for determination of success include the following:

• At least 75% of all activity participants state their intention to use the information or competencies gained in an activity, to institute changes in their clinical practice or other professional activities, as reported on immediate post-activity evaluation forms.
• Average scores for participants assessing effectiveness of the activity in preparing them to perform the stated learning objectives is 4.5 (on a 5-point scale).
• A majority of participants responding to outcomes assessment are able to identify specific content of the activity that they subsequently used in day-to-day professional activities.

ARHP’s education department operates in an association that promotes lifelong learning for all participants across the medical education continuum from undergraduate to graduate to professional practice. The overall program is continuously evaluated based on annual departmental plans to assure alignment with the mission and the effectiveness of its general operations, policies and procedures.  

Approved by ARHP’s Executive Committee on January 24, 2008.