Demoralization is a feeling state of dejection, hopelessness, and a sense of personal "incompetence" that may be tied to a loss of or threat to one's own goals or values. It has an existential dimension when beliefs and values about oneself are disconfirmed. Numerous sources describe high rates of dissatisfaction and burnout in…

Mandatory continuing education in the medical profession has had a profound influence, both positive and negative, on informal learning, accrediting of delivery systems, and program planning. (SK)

Current controversies regarding physician competency and a growing concern about the rapid obsolescence of medical knowledge are factors in a movement to require physicians to participate in continuing medical education. If programs become mandatory, educators should apply their skills and knowledge of adult learning in developing programs.…

Three proposals developed from concerns in the 1960s about the effectiveness of continuing medical education are discussed: a national plan, a process program model based on identified physician needs, and use of mandatory continuing education in relicensing/recertification. Problems are considered, and recommendations for changes are summarized.…

It is felt that the failing of previous continuing medical education projects is the lack of a theoretical construct through which the diverse data can be logically integrated. Suggestions are offered for using television in a supplemental manner. (LBH)

A survey of 4,300 physicians received 1,014 responses showing that family physicians preferred local continuing medical education programs and minicourses. Specialists and institutional practitioners did not mind travel or multiday programs. Less experienced physicians favored more personalized marketing approaches. (SK)

The author examines the physician's responsibility for lifelong learning, adult learning projects, the number of learning projects adults undertake in a year and time spent on these projects, content of these projects, motivation for learning projects, credit as a motivator, learning resources, how learning projects are planned, and status and…

Model constructs of the relationship of program needs to educational objective setting in medical continuing education program development were outlined. Utilizing an inductive method of discovering theory as the major research method, five procedural models were derived. Data were collected from twenty respondents from ten university medical…

The report of a symposium on continuing medical education in Montana, sponsored by the WICHE Mountain States Regional Medical Program, presents summaries of speeches of four consultants who discussed the following topics: How Can an Interprofessional Program Be Developed?; Continuing Medical Education Problems, Priorities, and Plans; Can Health…

Presents a conceptualization of an anatomy of continuing medical education. It is suggested that a body of knowledge developed for continuing medical education may be useful with suitable modifications in the continuing education of health professionals other than physicians. (Available from University of California Press, Berkeley, CA 94720.)…

Introduction: This study investigates the use of a commitment to change (CTC) instrument as an integral approach to continuing medical education (CME) planning, implementation, and evaluation and as a means of facilitating physician behavior change. Methods: Descriptive statistics and grounded theory methods were employed. Data were collected from…

Research must investigate three overlapping areas of continuing medical education. It must discover and document what, how, and why physicians learn and change; how better programs can be designed to fit into this process; and ways organizations that provide continuing education should differ in policies, procedures, and resources. (Author/MLW)

An evaluation procedure designed to measure the effects of university-organized continuing medical education (CME) courses on participants' prescribing behavior was examined. Copies of prescriptions were analyzed to establish real behavior compared with the physicians' self-reports. (Author/MLW)

This monograph, organized in two major parts, covers the role of educational needs assessment in adult education and its role in continuing medical education (CME). The first part discusses the concept of educational need and its relationship to classic program planning models and naturalistic program planning. It then covers various assessment…

The literature review of continuing education in medicine surveys 282 journal articles, books, conference reports and proceedings, and other publications published between 1960 and 1970. The review is divided into the following sections: prologue, which surveys the health professions, and new directions and limitations within them; the profession…