Introduction: The controversy surrounding commercial support for continuing medical education (CME) programs has led to policy changes, but data show no significant difference in perceived bias between commercial and noncommercial CME. Indeed, what attendees perceive as commercial influence is not fully understood. We sought to clarify what…

Introduction: Weight management is a new public health role for community pharmacists in many countries. Lack of expertise is one of the key barriers to counseling obese patients. We evaluated the comparative efficacy of three alternative continuing education (CE) meetings on weight management. Methods: We designed a randomized controlled trial…

Introduction: Our goal was to compare behavioral- and information-based interventions aimed at increasing prescription of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by interdisciplinary teams during pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Methods: Six hospital PR programs were randomly assigned to a…

Introduction: The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) provides guidelines for continuing medical education (CME) materials to mitigate problems in the independence or validity of content in certified activities; however, the process of peer review of materials appears largely unstudied and the reproducibility of…

A survey of 257 physical therapists received 192 responses indicating a preference for lectures or seminars for continuing education, in hotels/convention centers, during autumn/winter mornings. Orthopedic therapy was a favored topic. Barriers to attendance included cost, traveling distance, family obligations, lack of course information, and lack…

Introduction: There is a strong need for high-quality continuing medical education (CME) in Germany. To maintain a medical license, physicians are required to participate in regular training. Although evidence suggests that compared to lectures interactive methods can impart sustainable knowledge and a high degree of satisfaction, few interactive…

A 6-month follow-up study of 176 physicians who attended a breast cancer lecture/workshop found that 92 changed practice regarding tamoxifen; many now performed risk assessments on all patients. Barriers to change included lack of colleague consensus, lack of time for assessment and patient counseling, and lack of insurance reimbursement. (SK)

Patients (n=672) were screened and instructed about osteoporosis; 53 of their physicians attended lectures, a control group did not. A survey of 258 patients showed doctor-ordered screening tests increased regardless of lecture attendance. Increased patient-initiated discussions about osteoporosis suggest that patient education is effective.…

Analysis of responses from 1,221 participants in continuing medical education via lecture, and lecture enhanced with a computerized audience response system (ARS), indicated that more than 85% felt ARS facilitated teaching of clinical reasoning and facts and helped maintain their alertness. ARS-enhanced lectures received significantly higher…

Introduction: Depression is frequently unrecognized and undertreated. Therefore, there is a need to increase the knowledge and skills of primary care physicians regarding management of depression. The aim of this study was to determine if a brief educational intervention can affect family physicians' knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of…

Background: Although physicians are in a unique position to prevent life-threatening outcomes by counseling patients to stop smoking, many of them miss the opportunity to intervene in their patients' use of tobacco. Nicotine Dependence Across the Lifespan was developed as a continuing medical education (CME) program to teach and encourage…

Introduction: This randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigated the effectiveness of and satisfaction with small-group problem-based learning (PBL) versus a didactic lecture approach to guideline dissemination in asthma management controlling for confounders common in comparative educational interventions. Methods: Sites were selected as either…