In the fast-paced world of urgent and primary care, maintaining procedural competency is essential for delivering high-quality and efficient patient care. The OSF APP Education Department developed a program, APP Skills Day, in response to feedback from outpatient providers and learners regarding skills in which they feel underprepared to perform or frequently refer patients elsewhere for evaluation and management. APP Skills Day is held quarterly and provides a hands-on opportunity to refresh and refine the clinical skills most used in outpatient settings-- including incision and drainage, laceration repairs, simple and complex suturing techniques, lesion and cyst removals, musculoskeletal exams, joint reductions, splinting, chest X-ray and electrocardiogram (EKG) interpretation, trigger point injections, and removal techniques for fishhooks, earrings, ingrown toenails, and rings.
Programmatic outcomes over the last 2 years from 140 attendees indicate average mean scores of 4.7 or higher on a 5-point Likert scale in terms of learner engagement and a mean of 4.8 for faculty engagement, with 90% rating agree or strongly agree when asked if they would recommend the program to others. Qualitative comments support these scores, with themes that emerged indicating appreciation for hands-on training, networking with other providers, and the tips and pearls even on procedures that may have been common or familiar. We continuously adjust and refine the skills presented based on learner feedback. In 2024, participants requested more advanced or varied skill offerings, prompting us to review the program to include a broader range of complex skills. This adjustment led to increased overall satisfaction and higher levels of learner engagement. Prior to the curriculum changes, 88% of learners rated agree or strongly agree when asked if they would recommend the program to others. Following the introduction of more complex skills, and the separation of content into an Introductory Skills Day and an Advanced Skills Day, this number increased to 97.5%.
While APP Skills Day is primarily focused on urgent and primary care skills, typically between 5-25% of registered attendees represent specialty areas outside of urgent and primary care. APP Skills Day encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration by bringing together providers from different clinical backgrounds, and learners have remarked on our end of day survey that they appreciate the connections developed during these sessions.
Implementation of quarterly APP skills days improves APP clinical competency, health equity, and access to care, with the ultimate goal of enhancing patient care and provider competence through increased procedural proficiency.
