Self-Reported Training Needs and Continuing-Education Preferences of the School Medicine Workforce in Romania: A National Cross-Sectional Survey.
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Community Medicine, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
- 2The Society of Doctors from Children's and Youth Collectivities, 400427 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
- 3National Institute of Public Health-Regional Public Health Centre Cluj, 400349 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
- 4Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Dentistry, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Abstract
Background/objectives
The continuing professional development (CPD) needs of school medical personnel in Romania have not been characterised at a national scale. We quantified the workforce's self-reported training needs to inform a national CPD programme.Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional, self-administered online survey (July-September 2025) of school physicians, nurses, dental physicians, and dental nurses, recruited by open invitation through the national school-medicine association's channels. Training needs (59 role-specific items in seven thematic domains) were rated on a 5-point Likert scale; internal consistency, cross-role contrasts, and regression predictors of the overall training-need score were assessed.Results
The sample comprised 683 respondents (97.4% female; all eight development regions). Interest in further training was near-universal (99.0%); respondents preferred blended delivery (50.2%) and practical simulations (63.4%), with time (39.8%) and cost (37.5%) the leading barriers. Among generalist physicians and nurses, the highest-rated needs were emotional and school-adjustment disorders (59% high or very high need), major emergency first aid (58%), and principles of healthy nutrition (56%); across all roles, communicating with parents ranked highest (53%). Training needs differed by profession for digital skills, ethics, and social and child rights and between generalist professions for the clinical and health-education domains (p ≤ 0.033; all effect sizes small); internal consistency was high (α = 0.87-0.96).Conclusions
This national-scale needs assessment, the largest to date for this workforce, identifies self-reported priorities in mental health, emergencies, nutrition, and communication and a strong preference for blended, applied delivery. These exploratory findings inform the MED4SCHOOL national programme, including free-of-charge delivery, without establishing its causal effect on participation; transferability depends on local scope of practice and financing.
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BibTeX
@article{covaliu2026selfreported,
title = {{Self-Reported Training Needs and Continuing-Education Preferences of the School Medicine Workforce in Romania: A National Cross-Sectional Survey.}},
author = {Bogdan Florin Covaliu and Daniela Rajka and Cosmin Cristescu and Petru Sandu and Ioana Roxana Bordea and Alina-Ioana Forray},
journal = {Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/healthcare14193245},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42881684},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Self-Reported Training Needs and Continuing-Education Preferences of the School Medicine Workforce in Romania: A National Cross-Sectional Survey.
AU - Bogdan Florin Covaliu
AU - Daniela Rajka
AU - Cosmin Cristescu
AU - Petru Sandu
AU - Ioana Roxana Bordea
AU - Alina-Ioana Forray
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)
DO - 10.3390/healthcare14193245
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42881684
AB - Background/objectives The continuing professional development (CPD) needs of school medical personnel in Romania have not been characterised at a national scale. We quantified the workforce's self-reported training needs to inform a national CPD programme.Methods We conducted a cross-sectional, self-administered online survey (July-September 2025) of school physicians, nurses, dental physicians, and dental nurses, recruited by open invitation through the national school-medicine association's channels. Training needs (59 role-specific items in seven thematic domains) were rated on a 5-point Likert scale; internal consistency, cross-role contrasts, and regression predictors of the overall training-need score were assessed.Results The sample comprised 683 respondents (97.4% female; all eight development regions). Interest in further training was near-universal (99.0%); respondents preferred blended delivery (50.2%) and practical simulations (63.4%), with time (39.8%) and cost (37.5%) the leading barriers. Among generalist physicians and nurses, the highest-rated needs were emotional and school-adjustment disorders (59% high or very high need), major emergency first aid (58%), and principles of healthy nutrition (56%); across all roles, communicating with parents ranked highest (53%). Training needs differed by profession for digital skills, ethics, and social and child rights and between generalist professions for the clinical and health-education domains (p ≤ 0.033; all effect sizes small); internal consistency was high (α = 0.87-0.96).Conclusions This national-scale needs assessment, the largest to date for this workforce, identifies self-reported priorities in mental health, emergencies, nutrition, and communication and a strong preference for blended, applied delivery. These exploratory findings inform the MED4SCHOOL national programme, including free-of-charge delivery, without establishing its causal effect on participation; transferability depends on local scope of practice and financing.
SN - 2227-9032
ER -