COVID-19 has had an unbelievable impact on the U.S. in so many ways. Our residents, our communities, and our healthcare system have all suffered as we’ve weathered the effects of the pandemic.

What still remains unclear is the impact on the future of healthcare, especially primary care. Many offices reduced services and staff, some even closed temporarily as regular office visits halted and telehealth was rapidly introduced. Despite the downtrend of the COVID stats, many remain cautious and skeptical about returning to their provider’s office. As primary care providers we don’t know what our role will be – how do we test, how do we treat, how do we protect ourselves and our patients from a resurgence?

NPACE has not been immune to the impact of the pandemic. As of this newsletter, we have regretfully had to cancel five conferences. This has devastated us. We hate that we have not released educational content during this time but COVID-19 caught us, like so many, off-guard. We’ve been diligently searching for the right software and for partners who share the same high expectations as we do. We’ve also had to shift gears from our traditional needs assessment results, which were not reflective of the current situation. We must explore every option for meeting your continuing education needs while determining the best schedules and methods for learning  

In May we distributed a survey to assess your recommendations and viewpoints so that we can build content that fills defined  gaps. We received 780 completed surveys that were rich in quantitative and qualitative data – thank you!

From the survey data we were able to identify several themes that we will use to guide our development. Here is a snapshot of those results:

• Many respondents indicated that they will be able to attend a live conference by mid-2021
• Over 60% of respondents are willing to attend a virtual conference in 2020 (we are working on it!).
• 83% are interested in COVID-19 updates revolving around testing, treating, and long-term management of the respiratory effects (we are excited to be working with an expert on this topic).
• Respondents are also interested in COVID-19’s ripple effect including issues such as an increase in domestic violence and safe use of available (and appropriate) PPE.
• A resounding interest in telehealth training (documentation, billing, and legal/malpractice issues) was shared (we are already working on content development with a telehealth expert).
• 61% felt that a four-hour schedule is the maximum that could be completed in a day, with two days being the maximum length of the conference, followed closely by one and three days.
• 81% are interested in pre-recorded sessions available for access over the course of several weeks.
• Many are interested in opportunities that will allow for virtual connection to other NPs as well as exhibitors to learn about new product information and resources (please see our virtual exhibit hall).

We know that your time is valuable, and we thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. We cannot stress enough how much your input drives our content! As a thank you, we raffled off a credit for $75 off the fee for NPACE continuing education content. The winner of this raffle is Beth Thompson. Congratulations!

Do you want a way to directly impact our content? We’re actively recruiting for Content Experts to join our Planning Committee. This is a volunteer role that requires attendance at meetings where we discuss content reflective of your expertise – you will help guide the current needs of the discipline and verify accuracy of session content. Learn more.

We’d love to have you as part of the NPACE family!