Self-Reported Training Needs and Continuing-Education Preferences of the School Medicine Workforce in Romania: A National Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Highlights What are the main findings? Among 683 school medical personnel surveyed across all eight development regions, the largest assessment of this workforce in Romania to date, 99.0% expressed interest in further continuing professional development (CPD); among generalist physicians and nurses, the highest self-reported training needs were for emotional and school-adjustment disorders (59%), major emergency first aid (58%), and principles of healthy nutrition (56%), each rated a high or very high need. Training needs differed significantly across professional roles in digital skills, ethics, and social and child rights and between generalist physicians and nurses in the clinical and health-education domains (Kruskal–Wallis p ≤ 0.033; all effect sizes small, ε2 ≤ 0.023); respondents most often preferred a hybrid (in-person plus online; 50.2%) and simulation-led (63.4%) learning model, with insufficient time (39.8%) and cost (37.5%) the most common barriers. What are the implications of the main findings? These exploratory, self-reported findings inform the design of a national CPD programme in Romanian school medicine: a modular, hybrid, simulation-based curriculum prioritising mental health, major emergency first aid, nutrition, and staff–family communication, offered free of charge to address the reported cost barrier and scheduled around the workforce’s time constraints. Aligned with the WHO 2021 global school-health-services package, this study, the largest assessment of the Romanian school-medicine workforce’s CPD needs to date, directly informs the MED4SCHOOL national programme. 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.