Evaluation of the Spring Seedling Project—Zhaotong Program: A study of a novel continuing medical education program for rural doctors in China

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Spring Seedling Project‐Zhaotong program, a novel continuing medical education program, to improve the knowledge and skills of rural doctors in China. DESIGN: An uncontrolled single‐group pre‐ and post‐intervention design based on quantitative and qualitative methods. SETTING: Zhaotong is a prefecture‐level city located in Yunnan, China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1866 country doctors practising in Zhaotong were enrolled. INTERVENTIONS: The Zhaotong program consisted of three stages: remote education, workshops conducted in Zhaotong and field training in Shanghai. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The effectiveness of the remote education and Zhaotong workshop stages was assessed based on differences between pre‐ and post‐training test scores. Qualitative comments were collected to assess the experience of country doctors following the Shanghai field training stage. RESULTS: In total, 1866 country doctors (46.9% males; mean age: 38.2 ± 9.2 years) participated in the program. The average score of the post‐training test was higher than that of the pre‐training test, both online (P < .001) and offline (P < .001). In regard to the Zhaotong workshops, with the exception of incisions/suturing, the average scores of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, gynaecological examinations and child growth/development were improved after training (P < .001). Qualitative analysis showed that Shanghai field training enhanced understanding of general practice, with the majority of country doctors indicating that they would apply what they learned in daily practice. CONCLUSION: This study introduced an comprehensive form of continuing medical education for rural doctors in Zhaotong and proved the effectiveness of this program and also provided a reference point for the future development of continuing medical education.