Would a survey immediately following an accredited CE activity that asks specific practice change questions be sufficient to measure changes in learners' performance?
No. Changes in performance may only be assessed once a learner has had an opportunity to implement changes in their practice, so assessing performance change immediately post activity is not appropriate. However, self-reported changes in performance collected several weeks or months after learners have had an opportunity to implement what they learned into their practice would be an appropriate measure of performance.
Can we identify our learners' educational needs by asking our faculty for their opinions?
If your faculty's opinions are backed by current data, then yes. Per the ACCME, educational needs are the needs that lie beneath the professional practice gaps of your learners and are categorized as knowledge, competence, or performance based. A professional practice gap is the rift between what your learners are currently doing in practice and what they could (ideally) be doing. Effective methods for measuring your learners' professional practice gaps and identifying their educational needs include surveys, evaluations, peer reviewed journal articles, medical standards and guideline updates, relevant incidents reports, and claims data, to name a few.
