Continuing Medical Education

Abstract

Despite some general interest in the development and evaluation of continuing education for health professionals, the voluminous research literature on the subject is unfortunately equivocal as to exactly what approaches work and in which situations. In 1977, Bertram and Brookes-Bertram reviewed 113 studies of continuing medical education (CME): they found that three out of the eight studies which they judged as acceptably designed showed persistent positive effects. More recently, of six studies which examined the effect of CME upon the quality of care, half reported positive effects and half reported no effect, although all the studies demonstrated cognitive improvements.