Fundamentals of Program Evaluation in Health Professions Education

Welcome to the Fundamentals of Program Evaluation in Health Professions Education Short Course! We’re excited to have you join us!

Course Description

This short course introduces health professions educators to the fundamentals of program evaluation and its role in improving educational programs. Through a combination of interactive sessions, a keynote lecture, and hands-on workshops, participants will explore core concepts and practical frameworks used to evaluate educational initiatives. The course will cover foundational principles of program evaluation, strategies for fostering a culture of continuous quality improvement, and application of the Kirkpatrick framework and The Logic Model. Participants will also learn approaches for communicating and disseminating evaluation findings to support program improvement and educational scholarship.

Overview

FACULTY

Course Director: Donna Luff, PhD

Course Faculty:

• Susan E. Farrell, MD, EdM
  Associate Dean for Assessment and Evaluation
  Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine
  Office of Medical Education
  Harvard Medical School
• Christiana M. Russ, MD, DTMH, FAAP
  Medical Director, Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit, Division of Medicine Critical Care
  Director of Education, Global Health Program, Boston Children’s Hospital
  Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School​

BCH Academy Spring Retreat Faculty:

• John Dalrymple, MD
  Dean and CEO of Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine (KPSOM)
• Alan Leichtner, MD, MSHPEd
  Chief Education Officer
  Associate CMO for Education
  Co-Director, Center for Educational Excellence and Innovation
  Boston Children’s Hospital
• Jennifer C. Kesselheim, M.D.
  Medical Director of Graduate Medical Education (DIO)
  Director, Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
  Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
  Associate Professor of Pediatrics
  Harvard Medical School
• Michael Gale, MS, MHS, PA-C, ATC
  Department of Orthopedic Surgery
  Boston Children’s Hospital
• Emily Crossen, MSN, RN, NPD-BC
  Professional Development Specialist
  Clinical Education, Informatics, Practice and Quality
  Boston Children’s Hospital

Spring 2026 COHORT

You are joined by fellow BCH Academy Scholar Members, Teaching Certificate Members/Recent Graduates, and Health Professions Education Innovation Grant recipients for the first offering of this short course.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this Short Course, you will be able to:

1. Describe key concepts and purposes of program evaluation in health professions education
2. Explain how a culture of continuous quality improvement supports effective educational program development.
3. Apply practical program evaluation frameworks, including the Kirkpatrick framework and Logic Model, to plan or analyze an educational evaluation.
4. Identify strategies for communicating and disseminating program evaluation findings to stakeholders and scholarly audiences.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Participants will attend the 3 x virtual sessions (see exact dates under Schedule).

Sessions may include:

• A pre-reading to be completed before the session.
• An assignment to be submitted in this course after the session.

All components can be found within each session’s module. You may navigate to the modules using the right-side Content Bar.

Learners will receive personalized feedback on assignments submitted.

In support of improving patient care, Boston Children’s Hospital is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Dietitian
This course has been approved for 4.0 CPEUs. Completion of this RD/DTR profession-specific or IPCE activity awards CPEUs (One IPCE=One CPEU). RDs and DTRs are to select activity type 102 in their activity log. Sphere and Competency selection is at the learner’s discretion.
Nurse
Boston Children’s Hospital designates this activity for 4.0 contact hours for nurses. Nurses should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Pharmacy
This activity carries a maximum of 4.0 contact hours. Pharmacists should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Physician
Boston Children’s Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 4.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.
Physician Assistants
Boston Children’s Hospital has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credits for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 4.0 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.
Psychology
Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibly for the content of the programs. This course has been approved for 4.0 continuing education credits.
Social Work
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Boston Children’s Hospital is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Boston Children’s Hospital maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive 4.0 ACE CE continuing education credits.

Disclosure Policy

Boston Children’s Hospital adheres to all ACCME Essential Areas, Standards, and Policies. It is Boston Children’s policy that those who have influenced the content of a CME activity (e.g. planners, faculty, authors, reviewers and others) disclose all relevant financial relationships with commercial entities so that Boston Children’s may identify and resolve any conflicts of interest prior to the activity. These disclosures will be provided in the activity materials along with disclosure of any commercial support received for the activity. Additionally, faculty members have been instructed to disclose any limitations of data and unlabeled or investigational uses of products during their presentations.

The following planners, speakers, and content reviewers, on behalf of themselves and their spouse or partner, have reported no relevant financial relationships with any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on patients.

The following course faculty have reported no disclosures:

After you review the course site and technical tips below, if you still have questions or need help, please contact BCHacademy@childrens.harvard.edu, or Donna Luff, Course Director, at donna.luff@childrens.harvard.edu.

Donna Luff, PhD
Course Director, CEEI Certificate Program in Foundations of Health Professions Education Research

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