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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 Professions Work and Learn Together?; and "Communication Problems Affecting Patient Care." Also included are general remarks on two general discussion sessions: "The Strategy of Interprofessional Continuing Education Development in Montana", and "The Development of a Plan for Continuing Medical Education in Montana," which focused on a proposed research and education foundation authorized in March, 1968 by the Montana Medical Association. (nl)

This survey was conducted to assess the usefulness of video tape recording and closed-circuit live television as methods of continuing medical education. Specifically, a group of physicians in Indiana were surveyed as to their use of and attitudes towards programs of the Indiana University School of Medicine which used those methods. Of 3,400 physicians who are staff members at hospitals that have access to those programs, 763 returned questionnaires which were analyzed to provide data on the demographic and professional characteristics of physicians who used those media as of part of their continuing education. It was found that physicians who use video tape or closed-circuit are typically from principal hospitals with fewer than 450 beds, spend more than 10 hours a week at the hospital, and are willing to devote some hospital-based time for education. Some characteristics were found which distinguished physicians who said they changed their behavior after watching video tape, but no distinguishing characteristics were found for physicians who said they changed behavior after using closed-circuit live television. (JK)

The sole objective of the conference was to assemble experts in the various fields of continuing education for health to discuss the evaluation of their programs. Included were different types of producers of various kinds of courses or programs, adult educationalists, professional evaluators, financers of programs, etc. Particular attention was given to defining the problems encountered in evaluation and to outline possible solutions to them, with the goal of recording these deliberations for the benefit of newcomers to the field. No effort was made to arrive at any resolutions, conclusions, or formal recommendations. Instead, an attempt was made to indicate the complexities of the field of evaluation of continuing medical education efforts and to help those with less experience or with a more restricted point of view. (DAS)

This document reviews the Senior Medical Consultant Program; a program designed to utilize recently or near-retired medical school faculty members in a continuing medical education program. Evaluation of the program by physician teachers, physicians attending the sessions, both attending staff and house staff, and by physicians scheduling the teaching session was based on written reports, interviews, and observations of teaching sessions. Results indicated the success of the program, which received enthusiatic response from all medical groups contacted. (MJM)

The proceedings of a conference on television in postgraduate and continuing medical education for general practitioners are presented in this three-part report. Part One contains papers on medical broadcast television which examine the problems of informing the isolated doctor and groups of doctors of new developments; the usefulness and structure of a semantic differential method of program assessment which is completed by doctors; stages in the evolution of an instructional program; the value, methods, and costs of an integrated approach; general features to consider when creating an instructional program; problems involved in showing medical treatments on broadcast television; the problems of communication between specialists and the target audience--general practitioners; and general limitations of medical educational television (such as cost, air time, and publicity). In Part Two papers on recorded television explore the advantages of using Electronic Video Recording (EVR), the technical factors to consider in recording for television, and steps in the process of developing viewer involvement. Part Three contains papers on closed circuit television (CCTV) which detail the uses, costs, and relative merits of single and double camera CCTV, and describe what can be expected of manufacturers and suppliers of television equipment. (SM)

How has continuing medical education fared under instructional technology? For this reappraisal, the authors review the use of tapes, slides and film, in the medical profession in the U.S. and in the British Isles; radio and telephone, television, programed instruction, and computers (in their three-fold functions as retrievers of information, consultant in the diagnostic process, and instrument of instruction). Medical educators, the authors conclude, have embraced instructional technology with enormous enthusiasm, but have not done it systematically, seeming to have replaced their customary spirit of inquiry with a spirit of faith. They have neglected the process of diagnosing their needs, following it up with a specific prescription to correct the diagnosed defect, and a careful observation to determine whether the intervention has been effective. (Author/GO)

In modern society, lifelong learning by the physician is essential. This study was conceived to: (1) define the educational needs of practitioners in the Pacific Northwest, (2) assess the resources available to meet these needs, (3) determine what educational programs are needed, (4) develop evaluation methods for these programs, (5) identify physician participation factors, (6) develop evaluation techniques for clinical communication systems, (7) evaluate recent continuing education programs, and (8) develop a comprehensive plan for a continuing education center. The report describes in detail the techniques used to accomplish these objectives, with questionnaires and survey results contained in the appendixes. Ideally, medical education should continue in a lifelong pattern developed during undergraduate study. With improvements in program content, promotional efforts, information networks, and program offerings in individual hospitals, continuing education can be made an integral part of physicians' careers. (BH)

The responsibility of organized medicine in the area of continuing education was the focus of this conference. Papers presented at the conference and summaries of workshop discussion groups comprise this document. The papers are: The Purpose of the Conference; Maintenance of Physician Competence; Motivation for Continuing Medical Education; Peer Review and Evaluation as Educational Tools; Regionalization and Continuing Medical Education; Continuing Medical Education--Issues and Answers; Developing and Teaching Faculty at Community Hospitals; Self-Assessment and the Professional Society; The Postgraduate Medical Institute Program in Continuing Medical Education; the MIST Program; Clinical Traineeships; and The Physical Profile Program for Continuing Medical Education. The workshops were on motivation, evaluation, organization and methods, financing, and the role of the State medical association in continuing medical education. A list of participants is provided. (DB)

This manual provides guidelines for: (1) developing community hospital-based programs of continuing medical education; and (2) delivering education consultation to community hospitals. Chapters I and II outline principles of continuing medical education, present a model for education program development, and provide specific how-to techniques and instruments with which to implement them. Numerous methods of continuing medical education are discussed. In Chapter III, several guest contributors, all leaders in their fields, present their approaches to developing education programs based on assessment of quality of health care. Principles and techniques of delivering education consultation to community hospitals are presented in Chapter IV. Chapter V is a case illustration of the consultation procedure and the nature of program development at a typical community hospital. Chapter VI provides an outline of the formation, organization and activities of a continuing education institution, Postgraduate Medical Institute, as an illustration of the potential for similar organizations. Lists of suggested readings are provided throughout the manual. The object of this manual is to serve as a primary resource for hospital medical educators as well as medical societies, medical schools, regional medical programs, and other institutions concerned with continuing education of physicians. (Author/CK)

A description of a monthly, two hour continuing medical education program for the family doctor in Louisiana. (Author/HB)

An evaluation of the use of multimedia education channels for continuing physician education. (CH)

Historical and present-day developments indicate that the continuing education of physicians is one of the most important problems in medical education today. The gap between scientific knowledge and application is increasing, largely because of the rapid advance of research, imbalance in the quantity, quality, and availability of opportunities for medical continuing education, and unsuitable patterns of educational organization and dissemination of knowledge. Organizing a nationwide coordinating structure is a task parallel with that of reassessing basic concepts of education. Knowledge and tools from the behavioral sciences, medical education, and communication technology (especially programed instruction and educational television) are readily accessible. Personal satisfaction, freedom of choice, continuity, accessibility, and convenience are criteria of practicality. These criteria assume that learning is basically an individual, personal achievement, that motivation consists of personal standards of excellence, and that education is most beneficial when separated from regulation. (The document includes appendixes, diagrams, detailed proposals for a nationwide patient-centered system of medical continuing education, and over 300 references.) (author/ly)

Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (79th, Houston, Texas, October 31, 1968).

This study supports the validity of a Motivation Scale developed for student participants' rating of quality of short course presentations. (IR)

Evaluates the Stanford University School of Medicine's extramural program of continuing education offered to community physicians. (Editor/PG)

Presented is an example of behaviorally oriented evaluation research in continuing medical education and a discussion of aspects of the "value" of conventional learning formats for practicing physicians and their patients. (Author)

This paper offers an analysis and evaluation of obstacles to the continuing medical education of physician-practitioners associated with private community hospitals, as delineated in a study of the use of the educational keys (publications, lectures, exhibits, chart audits, consultation, house-staff teaching, and research). It is concluded that obstacles may result from lack of understanding of the professional interests and needs of the physician-practitioner and the improper and unskillful employment of educationl keys; and that these obstacles affect his continuing medical education according to the following groups: 1) those that affect the physician when he participates indirectly, 2) those that affect him when he participates directly, and 3) those that affect his motivation to participate. Recommendations are offered for the alleviation or removal of these barriers.

THE Postgraduate Medical Institute, established in 1953 under the sponsorship of the Massachusetts Medical Society, was designed to encourage and, at least in part, to provide for the continuing ed...

Physicians in the USSR practice within a system organized for flow of health-care services to the public, and for flow of patients to appropriate back-up diagnostic and therapeutic facilities. The present medical-education policy of the USSR Ministry of Health is oriented toward increasing the qualifications of all physicians. This poses a complex problem for postgraduate medical education in the Soviet Union. To meet the challenge the Ministry has evolved an educational system that binds all phases of medical education and is noteworthy for its commitment of personnel, financial and organizational resources to the lifelong improvement of a physician's knowledge and skills. The most important role is that of the 13 Institutes for Advanced Education of Physicians, under the leadership of the Central Institute in Moscow.

During 1956–65, 57 per cent of the 2090 physicians practicing in Kansas participated in courses of continuing education offered by the State University. Approximately 7 per cent of all physicians t...