Human Resources Management for Health Care Organizations: A Strategic Approach

Evaluating Training

An evaluation of the training program is necessary to determine whether the training accomplished its objectives. Unfortunately this is often the most neglected aspect of training, especially in the public sector (Bramley, 1996; Sims, 1998). Evaluation improves training programs by providing feedback to the trainers, participants, and managers, and it assesses employee skill levels. Evaluations can be used to measure changes in knowledge, changes in levels of skills, changes in attitudes and behavior, and changes in levels of effectiveness at both the individual level and the agency level.

Kirkpatrick (1994, 1998) suggests that there are four primary levels at which training programs can be evaluated. The first level of evaluation ...