Continuing Medical Education: A Cross Sectional Study on a Developing Country's Perspective. Sci Eng Ethics 2018 Feb;24(1):251-260
Date
03/30/2017Pubmed ID
28349340DOI
10.1007/s11948-017-9900-8Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85016107273 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 9 CitationsAbstract
To determine the attitude of general practitioners towards continuing medical education (CME) and reasons motivating or hindering them from attending CME procedures, we conducted a cross-sectional survey from November 2013 to April 2014 in Karachi. Three hundred general practitioners who possessed a medical license for practice in Pakistan filled a pre-designed questionnaire consisting of questions pertaining to attitudes towards CME. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS v16.0. 70.3% (n = 211) of the participants were males. Mean age was 47.75 ± 9.47 years. Only 67.33% knew about CME and only 52% had attended a CME session. Reasons for attending CME procedures reported were: need for updating knowledge, skills and competencies (67.30%), opportunity to meet colleagues (18.58%) and presenting scientific papers (8.97%). Mean Likert score was 1.67 (±0.667) for those who thought CME is worthwhile and 1.44 (±0.686) for those who consider their clinical duties as the major hurdle in attending CME procedures. Most common cause for not attending CME was lack of knowledge (32.66%) followed by time constraint (24%). Most physicians were not sufficiently informed about the potential benefits of CME and had never attended a CME session. Most common reason for attending CME procedures reported was need for updating knowledge, skills and competencies while reasons hindering physicians from attending CME were lack of knowledge and time constraint.
Author List
Ali SA, Hamiz Ul Fawwad S, Ahmed G, Naz S, Waqar SA, Hareem AMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultAttitude
Awareness
Cross-Sectional Studies
Developing Countries
Education, Medical, Continuing
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motivation
Pakistan
Physicians
Surveys and Questionnaires
Time Management