Introduction: Board certification has evolved from a "point-in-time" event to a process of periodic learning and reevaluation of medical competence through maintenance of certification (MOC). To better understand MOC participation, the transtheoretical model (TTM) was used to describe physicians' perceptions of MOC as a sequence of…

There is growing recognition of the need to reeducate clinically inactive physicians seeking to return to practice and in the facilitation of this return. Physicians seeking to return to practice face many challenges: maneuvering the various requirements of licensing, medical, and credentialing boards; finding an appropriate educational program to…

Introduction: The United Kingdom's pharmacy regulator contemplated using continuing professional development (CPD) in pharmacy revalidation in 2009, simultaneously asking pharmacy professionals to demonstrate the value of their CPD by showing its relevance and impact. The idea of linking new CPD requirements with revalidation was yet to be…

The ultimate goal of physician education is the application of knowledge and skills to patient care. The Maintenance of Certification (MOC) for Anesthesiologists program incorporates mannequin-based simulation to help realize this goal. Results from the first 2 years of experience suggest that 583 physician participants transferred knowledge and…

Introduction: Continuing education is one of the means by which professionals maintain and increase their level of competence. However, the relationship between continuing education and the professional's sense of personal competence and other practice-related variables remains unclear. This study examined practicing psychologists' continuing…

Introduction: Limited information exists to describe physicians who return to practice after absences from patient care. The Center for Personalized Education for Physicians (CPEP) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides clinical competency assessment and educational programs for physicians, including those reentering…

Driven by health care reform and the advent of the private sector in the late 1980s, and by commitments made to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam is faced with a need to increase the regulation and training of its health care professionals. Previously, a diploma from an accredited health professional school was sufficient…

Introduction: Since reliable information is scarce to describe continuing medical education (CME) and revalidation in Europe, we carried out a survey in 5 selected countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom). Methods: A tested questionnaire was sent to 2 experts per country (except in Germany), during August-September 2004.…

Competency-based assessment and an emphasis on obtaining higher-level outcomes that reflect physicians' ability to demonstrate their skills has created a need for more advanced assessment practices. Simulation-based assessments provide medical education planners with tools to better evaluate the 6 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical…

Introduction: To engage effectively and efficiently in self-directed learning and knowledge-seeking practices, it is important that physicians construct well-formulated questions; yet, little is known about the quality of good questions and their relationship to self-directed learning or to change in practice behavior. Methods: Personal learning…

The lack of resources in a country experiencing decades of successive wars, blockade, administrative corruption, and poor governance led to deteriorated standards throughout medical education. Although professional certification programs exist, continuing medical education accreditation and credit systems are required to monitor and certify the…

To provide the best care to patients, a physician must commit to lifelong learning, but continuing education and evaluation systems in the United States typically require little more than records of attendance for professional association memberships, hospital staff privileges, or reregistration of a medical license. While 61 of 68 medical and…

UK continuing education is moving from credit-earning, taught continuing medical education (CME) to a continuing professional development (CPD) system that explicitly links education to change in practice, managed and monitored through mandatory peer appraisal. Alongside multisource feedback and consideration of issues of poor performance,…

Introduction: Deficiencies in physician competence play an important role in medical errors and poor-quality health care. National trends toward implementation of continuous assessment of physicians hold potential for significant impact on patient care because minor deficiencies can be identified before patient safety is threatened. However, the…

Introduction: Several recent studies highlight that physicians are not very accurate at assessing their competence in clinical domains when compared to objective measures of knowledge and performance. Instead of continuing to try to train physicians to be more accurate self-assessors, the research suggests that physicians will benefit from…