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Continuing Medical Education: A Cross Sectional Study on a Developing Country’s Perspective

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Abstract

To determine the attitude of general practitioners towards continuing medical education (CME) and reasons motivating or hindering them from attending CME procedures, we conducted a cross-sectional survey from November 2013 to April 2014 in Karachi. Three hundred general practitioners who possessed a medical license for practice in Pakistan filled a pre-designed questionnaire consisting of questions pertaining to attitudes towards CME. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS v16.0. 70.3% (n = 211) of the participants were males. Mean age was 47.75 ± 9.47 years. Only 67.33% knew about CME and only 52% had attended a CME session. Reasons for attending CME procedures reported were: need for updating knowledge, skills and competencies (67.30%), opportunity to meet colleagues (18.58%) and presenting scientific papers (8.97%). Mean Likert score was 1.67 (±0.667) for those who thought CME is worthwhile and 1.44 (±0.686) for those who consider their clinical duties as the major hurdle in attending CME procedures. Most common cause for not attending CME was lack of knowledge (32.66%) followed by time constraint (24%). Most physicians were not sufficiently informed about the potential benefits of CME and had never attended a CME session. Most common reason for attending CME procedures reported was need for updating knowledge, skills and competencies while reasons hindering physicians from attending CME were lack of knowledge and time constraint.

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Abbreviations

CME:

Continuing medical education

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan

    Syed Arsalan Ali & Syeda Aimen Waqar

  2. St. Francis Medical Center, Trenton, NJ, USA

    Shaikh Hamiz ul Fawwad

  3. Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Gulrayz Ahmed

  4. Patel Hospital Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

    Sumayya Naz

  5. Civil Hospital Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

    Anam Hareem

  6. Flat B-202 Al Habib Complex Plot B-71 Street 11 Block “L” North Nazimabad, Karachi, 74700, Pakistan

    Syed Arsalan Ali

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  1. Syed Arsalan Ali
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  2. Shaikh Hamiz ul Fawwad
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  3. Gulrayz Ahmed
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  4. Sumayya Naz
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  5. Syeda Aimen Waqar
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  6. Anam Hareem
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Correspondence to Syed Arsalan Ali.

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Ali, S.A., Hamiz ul Fawwad, S., Ahmed, G. et al. Continuing Medical Education: A Cross Sectional Study on a Developing Country’s Perspective. Sci Eng Ethics 24, 251–260 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9900-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9900-8

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