Introduction: Little is known about the overall appropriateness and value of the various programs available internationally for assessment and remediation for individual physicians whose performance in their clinical practice has been identified as giving cause for concern. Method: A questionnaire was e-mailed to members of the International…

The heightened demand for accountability, access, and quality performance from health care professionals has resulted in linkages between continuing education (CE), performance improvement (PI), and outcomes. CE health professionals must also expand their skills and abilities to design, implement, and measure CE activities consistent with these…

Introduction: No educational method or combination of methods will facilitate implementation of clinical practice guidelines in all clinical contexts. To develop an empirical basis for aligning methods to contexts, we need to move beyond "Does it work?" to also ask "What works for whom and under what conditions?" This study employed Success Case…

Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) is a large system intervention designed to align efforts and motivate the creation of a tiered system of improvement at the national, state, practice, and patient levels, assisting primary-care physicians and their practice teams to assess and measurably improve the quality of care for chronic illness and…

A study of 135 published articles describing continuing medical education programs and program evaluation was undertaken to review the state of the literature between 1984 and 1988. Results suggest that research in the field of continuing medical education is expanding and that programs have an impact on physician performance. (JOW)

The two major continuing medical education (CME) credit systems for allopathic physicians in the United States are administered by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). This article explores the history of AMA and AAFP CME credit and its value to physicians and the patients they serve.…

Introduction: The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) recognized that certification and recertification must be based on an assessment of performance in practice as well as an examination of medical knowledge. Physician self-assessment of practice performance is proposed as one method that certification boards may use to evaluate competence…

Underperformance among physicians is not well studied or defined; yet, the identification and remediation of physicians who are not performing up to acceptable standards is central to quality care and patient safety. Methods for estimating the prevalence of dyscompetence include evaluating available data on medical errors, malpractice claims,…

The Veterans Health Administration (VA) provides a case study for linking performance measurement, information technology, and aligned research efforts to facilitate quality improvement in a large, complex health system. Dialogue between clinical researchers and VA leaders occurs through structured activities (e.g., the Quality Enhancement…

Practicing physicians generally are not engaged in either the methods of performance improvement for health care or the measurement and reporting of clinical outcomes. The principal reasons are lack of compensation for such work, the perception that the work of performance improvement adds no value and is a waste of time, the lack of knowledge and…