Introduction
Continuing education has become a crucial endeavor in every academic field as the need for knowledge and expertise continues to be the foundation of professionalism and competitiveness in various business fields.
Continuing education refers to the pursuit of post-secondary programs and activities that are involved therein or registering for non-degree trainings, credit courses for degrees, training of workforce, self-enrichment study courses, self-directed learning, and learning through experience amongst others. Many professions have specific curriculums designed for further studies.
Continuing education therefore falls under a certain classification due to its specificity and the fact that a certificate is issued at the end of it. According to Lea and Jonathan (2012, p. 179), during the course of continuing education, marks are awarded to the scholar in the form of continuing education units. Further studies enable specialists in a certain field to update their knowledge in that field with current information.
For instance, in the law and information technology fields, new knowledge develops each day. Such education is important especially in some fields where information develops very fast due to the dynamics of the profession.
The medical field, which is the basis of the paper, provides a working illustration where new treatment and diagnostic methods are developed every day with the changing characteristics of disease-causing pathogens such as those of malaria and HIV/AIDS.
This paper will therefore focus on continuing education in this area (the medical health field) by specifically expounding on the importance of taking such a move with regard to ones education and professional development in the field.
Why continue Education in the Medical Field
The field of medicine stands out as the most sensitive and marketable based on the central role it plays in terms of securing the lives of people. Therefore, it suffices to declare it the best choice for all who wish to continue their education and professionalism. After completion of their formal training, medical professionals enroll for further training.
Further education in medicine aims at maintaining, developing and increasing knowledge, improving the ability to solve problems, acquisition of new technical skills, and improvement of professionalism in performance of duties not only pertaining to medical/health issues but also issues to do with life in general. In some countries such as Canada, further education is a mandatory requirement by the regulatory authorities.
With further education, a physician is trained on how to offer better quality services in his or her field. Lea and Jonathan (2012, p. 179) affirm that continuing education involves various formal education activities such as lecture courses, attending conferences and workshops, distance learning, and directed reading.
Continuing education in the medical/health field enables the physician to keep up-to-date with changes and development in the field that is characterized by dynamism, with various diagnostic and treatment methods changing with time. Medicine and pharmaceuticals administered to patients suffering from various diseases also keep on changing.
Some disease causing pathogens, HIV/AIDS virus for instance, keep on mutating with time. The same shifting process applies to many other diseases and their causative agents. It is therefore important for medical health practitioners to enroll for continuous education and keep themselves updated and thus in touch with the newest health handling procedures.
According to Lucas and Pearson (2012, p. 277), new information on the changing nature of diagnosis and treatment is posted on medical journals, newsfeeds, magazines, and medical books.
For example, if a strain of plasmodium develops resistance to certain malaria medicine, the information is circulated across the region followed by the development of the respective new medicine. Doctors and health professionals who may not be in contact with the new information may end up using any out of date medicine to treat such a disease.
While continuing education, medical professionals also attend seminars and workshops for training on new technological developments and their impact on the field of medicine. Each day, sophisticated tools for medical treatment are developed. Medical engineers keep on mounting modern medical devices in a bid to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the field. Such devices come with a certain operational manual.
It is therefore important that medical practitioners learn how to use such devices. Short refresher courses for medical care practitioners are also used to make medical practitioners keep up-to-date with the profession. According to Lucas and Pearson (2012, p. 279), new physicians are taken through various units in clinical medicine, administration, and psychology among other areas.
It is also through seminars and workshops that medical practitioners are reintroduced to professional ethics. Medical professionals in the continuing education program are therefore able to keep abreast with professional ethics in their field. It is also easier for such professionals to observe the regulations put in place by authorities.
When physicians work together in the further studies, they are likely to discover new knowledge in the course of their learning. Such discoveries are realized in the process of research as learners work on projects that are meant to fulfill the required units. For example, a physician who takes on a project in parasitology may end up discovering specific characteristics of a certain parasite in his or her field of study.
Such characteristics may end up making it easier to develop chemicals to kill it or keep it away from human life. Research is the foundation for better medical care. Many discoveries in medicine have been made in the course of further studies in medicine.
Continuing education in the medical field also enables the learner to remain competitive in the field of health care. Lucas and Pearson (2012, p. 277) posit that, although there is a shortage of qualified medical practitioners in the world, competition is also high in this field. The field of health is crucial to the wellbeing of humankind.
People would therefore not want to play games with human life. Medical practitioners who have the current knowledge on diagnostic and treatment of various diseases and conditions are therefore better placed for treatment.
Bhatnagar and Kalpana (2012,22) concur with the above argument by asserting that, since the field of medicine is very dynamic, medical practitioners who keep themselves informed about the changes taking place in the field are therefore able to remain competitive.
Competition in the field may be in the ability to access modern methods of treatment such as closed-heart surgery instead of open-heart surgery, ability of the practitioner to use modern treatment equipments such as high tech cancer treatment machines, and the ability to access and administer the most effective modern medicine to the patients.
It is out of completion that some hospitals have more customers relative to others. Patients know the health practitioners who have access to information or who are sure about their work. In fact, according to Lucas and Pearson (2012, p. 278), most of the people would prefer fresh graduates to old medical practitioners who never attend refresher courses.
Career promotions are also done through merits in most of the health centers and hospitals. It is therefore necessary for the health practitioners to keep abreast with modern knowledge by enrolling for further education courses.
Medical health care professionals who undergo further education are also able to offer better customer care services. In their further education programs, learners are also taught how to handle their clients: the patients. In many public health centers, medical health care providers treat customers in a rude way. Such behavior becomes irritating especially to the already sick customer.
The worst scenario happens in private hospitals that employ such a medical practitioner. Poor customer handling skills make customers seek better care in other hospitals. Hence, the hospital may suffer loss and decreased trust by patients. The image of the health care providers and that of the hospital itself are tainted.
Further education in the medical field enables the medical professionals to achieve promotions. According to Schrader (2010, p. 41), in further studies, one is trained on various professional courses that are crucial for better performance of certain duties.
For example, based on Barzdins’ (2012, p. 129) words, learners are trained on administration skills, customer management skills, human resource skills, and accounts management skills that are crucial in administrative positions. After such trainings, a medical health professional is allowed to obtain promotions to certain positions.
In some cases, further studies become a requirement for one to be allowed to perform certain duties in the medical field. For example, a clinical officer may not be allowed to perform a major surgery unless he or she obtains specialization in that field through continuing education. Medical doctors especially those in surgery also require to acquire continuing education through seminars and workshops.
Continuing education enables them to be granted work permits and licenses of practice. In many countries such as the United States, doctors need to attend various seminars and workshops in order to be allowed to continue carrying out surgery. According to Bhatnagar and Kalpana (2012, p. 22), it is therefore important for the medical care practitioners to obtain further education in order to continue rising up the medical career ladder.
Medical care practitioners who are able to attend continuing education are likely to obtain promotions to the next level in their careers. Medical care practitioners, for example nurses, can also undergo further training through enlisting for graduate courses or degree courses to obtain a degree in medicine.
When a nurse attains a medical degree, he or she is likely to be promoted to the next job group in the medical field career. Consequently, he or she becomes entitled to a better pay and benefits. Schrader (2010, p. 41) affirms that a better remuneration and better benefits mean a better lifestyle for the employee.
When medical practitioners complete their further studies, and are promoted to better job groups, their living standard is improved. Medical health care practitioners and their families are also able to live a better life. A medical health care practitioner who undergoes a further education program is likely to be more relied upon by customers and employers.
People are more likely to trust very educated medical practitioners than those with only the basic level of education. The level of trust by both the patients and employers is also raised. Continuing education is therefore necessary for those in the lower levels in the medical care profession. Furthering education increases the salary of the learners in the workplace.
One is also able to obtain a better job when he or she completes further studies in the medical/healthcare field. Many private and public medical institutions hire qualified and competent medical care practitioners.
Completion of further studies makes the medical care practitioner have a more bargaining power in the job market. Medical professionals who have undergone medical care training are also able to negotiate for better salaries with their employers. For instance, they can appeal for a better salary after completing their studies.
Further education is important for job satisfaction. Employees in the medical care profession must achieve job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is an endeavor that every employee aims to achieve. When medical practitioners enjoy their daily activities on their jobs, they are likely to be contented. According to Bhatnagar and Kalpana (2012, p. 21), job satisfaction may be developed through a good pay that in turn comes with better qualification.
For a medical care practitioner to have a better pay compared to his or her workmate, he or she must have gone through further education. A medical practitioner should realize that his or her life depends on his or her career choice. It is from the medical fields that they earn their living and are able to live a descent life. This argument means that all medical practitioners should respect their career and work hard to succeed in it.
Continuing ones medical education in the medical field becomes a continuous activity. Medical field is extremely dynamic. Those with passion in the field and those who would want to achieve job satisfaction in this career must love the job itself together with the information that is developed each day. Continuous education in the medical field (and in many other fields) is a basic requirement.
Job security is also guaranteed with continuous education. With job security, one is likely to experience job satisfaction. It is also worth noting that people are likely to experience job satisfaction when they are sure of the security of their jobs. If medical practitioners realize that they will lose their job, they are less likely to be comfortable working for those respective hospitals or health centers.
Continuing education enables health practitioners to have confidence that they are not likely to lose their jobs to someone else. According to Barzdins (2012, p. 129), employers and other human resource practitioners would want more educated employees for better services in their hospitals.
Therefore, if there is any retrenchment of medical workers, the employer is likely to begin with those that have lower education and qualifications. Continuing education therefore gives job security to the medical care practitioners.
In fact, a medical care practitioner who has completed various post-training courses in the medical field is able to obtain another job soon after leaving the other one. Proper practical qualifications and social certificates and trainings in the medical health field are therefore important. Some employers kick out employees who stagnate in a certain field for many years without any further training.
Such medical health practitioners are redundant in their field of work. Grantors are willing to put their money in the medical field more than any other field. These people have a soft spot for medicine and the medical profession as a whole.
This revelation means that medical professions cannot hide under the guise of lack of school fees. Grants are given to assist medical practitioners’ specialization in their field and to offer better services. Employees are also accorded the opportunity to attend seminars and workshops.
Conclusion
In conclusion, furthering education is a field that has become very important in the society today. Further education in the medical field is crucial because it enables learners to become competent in the job market. It enables medical practitioners to keep themselves up to date with the current knowledge. It secures job satisfaction and confidence for learners.
It is important because of the many grants available to sponsor students in the medical field. One is also able to keep up-to-date with the current information. Continuing education can be taken in the form of classroom lectures, distance learning, workshops, and seminars. Learning can therefore be supervised directly in the lecture halls or else be self-supervised.
A student must complete a number of units through learning and or self-direction. In the medical healthcare field, the continuous education is an obligation for all the medical practitioners. Further education is therefore a key requirement in the field of medical health care and that graduates in this field should be encouraged to take such a move to keep abreast with the changes in this dynamic field of study.
Reference List
Bhatnagar, K, & Kalpana, S. (2012). A preliminary study to measure and develop job satisfaction scale for medical teachers. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 20(2), 91-96.
Barzdins, J. (2012). Developing health care management skills in times of crisis: A review from Baltic region. Journal of Healthcare Management, 5(3), 129-140.
Lea, J, & Jonathan, S. (2012). Higher education in further education: capturing and promoting HEness. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 17(2), 179-193.
Lucas, B, & Pearson, D. (2012). Patient perceptions of their role in undergraduate medical education within a primary care teaching practice. Education for Primary Care, 23(4), 277-285.
Schrader, J. (2010). Governance in Adult and Further Education. European Education, 41(4), 41-64.