Educational Needs Assessments

AST 2020 Member Educational Needs Assessment:

2020: A vision for future direction

The AST Education Committee distributed the second society-wide educational needs assessment from February 6th, 2020 through March 6th, 2020. AST is very well positioned to be the educational home for more than 4000 members. Our goal is to meet the educational needs of all members in new and innovative ways, while supporting the AST mission - to advance the field of transplantation and improving patient care by promoting research, education, advocacy, organ donation, and service to the community.

In 2015, we distributed our first educational needs assessment survey. The results from each transplant specialty helped AST Education Committee to steer Timely Topics in Transplantation (T3) webinars, AST/AJT Journal Clubs, and Community of Practice (COP’s) educational content.

• Based on member interest in on-demand style learning, AST developed programs such as the Comprehensive Trainee Curriculum (CTC), launched in 2017. CTC features over 40 videos on various concentrations in transplantation and allows users to learn at their own pace and focus their learning experience through suggested learning tracks. All webinar content, such as the Timely Topics in Transplantation (T3) series and the AST/AJT Journal Club series, is recorded and made available for members on-demand after the live session.
• Respecting the time of our members AST Launched the Transplant in 10 (Tx10) series after ATC 2017, designed to present important transplant educational content in a 10-minute-or-less format on demand.
• AST partners with ASTS on planning for the American Transplant Congress (ATC) and supporting the American Journal of Transplantation (AJT). AST also continued to partner with ASN on the Transplant Nephrology Core Curriculum (TNCC) program.

The 2020 educational needs assessment included 13 standard questions for all respondents before branching off into sub-surveys based on specialty. This allowed us to have one survey for analysis and consistent framing of questions. With this new survey our aim was to identify specific practice gaps, create new education paths and be ready to adapt to new knowledge, interventions, therapeutics, and changing patterns of illness and health systems. Our goal is to use the information from this survey to design educational programs designed to improve learner’s knowledge, competence and performance and ensure AST meets the educational needs of its members.

The AST 2020 Member Educational Needs Assessment survey closed at 11:59 PM ET on Friday, March 6th.

AST would like to thank all of the participants in the 2020 Education Needs Assessment Survey. As a sign of gratitude for our member support, incentives were awarded to the following eligible participants:

• One eligible member name was drawn at random to receive a $500 eGift Card: Dr. Helen Te
• The first 25 eligible members who completed the survey qualified to receive a $20 eGift Card: Dr. Johannes Wedel, Dr. Mark Wakefield, Dr. Brendan McGuire, Dr. Michael Kriss, Dr. Yoichiro Natori, Dr. Joseph Kahwaji, Dr. John Killian, Ms. Tamara Wright, Dr. Leigh Anne Dageforde, Dr. Cynthia Fisher, Dr. Deirdre Sawinski, Dr. Asif Sharfuddin, Dr. Paschalis Vergidis, Dr. Edward Kraus, Dr. Francesa Cardarelli, Ms. Kelley Kulikowski, Dr. Alejandra Mena-Gutierrez, Mr. David Kloda, Dr. Andrew Bentall, Dr. Jessica Voss, Mrs. Lisa Matthias, Dr. Aaron Mishkin, Dr. Shennen Mao, Ms. Gloria Chen, Mr. Evelio Matos

AST 2015 Member Educational Needs Assessment:

In 2015, the AST conducted a society-wide educational needs assessment. The results of the survey are used to plan and implement educational strategies and content to serve the needs of transplant professionals today and in the future.

Managing Long-Term Outcomes for Kidney Transplant Patients: An Integrated Needs Assessment:

In December 2011, a needs assessment was published by IPMA, the American Urological Association, Healthcare Performance Consulting, the Physicians' Institute for Excellence in Medicine, and the AST (funded through an educational grant from Pfizer Medical Education Group). This needs assessment serves as a source document to use in documenting the need for educational activities related to long term care of the kidney transplant patient.

We invite you to review one of the following abridged versions aimed at specific segments, or the full report.

Community Nephrologist Individual Report
Transplant Nephrologist Individual Report
Transplant Surgeon Individual Report
Full Integrated Needs Assessment