[A joint continuing medical education program for practitioners and radiologists: a positive preliminary experience]

A common reflective continuing medical education (CME) approach has been promoted by the French National CME Association (UNAFORMEC) and French Radiologic Organizations to improve imaging prescriptions performed by general practitioners (GP) as well as their relationships with radiologists to fit the best decision resources for an optimal patient care. This new practice based CME is a multidisciplinary learning model.

A learning model that could satisfy GP and favor improved communication between them and radiologists was elaborated. Two organization groups worked simultaneously during one year before the first CME session could be achieved. This kind of CME involves a small group (30 participants, 3/4 of general practitioners and 1/4 of radiologists), and includes 3 sessions; on the basis of fictive medical situations, the first one addresses to the formulation of a pertinent imaging prescription, including data that are useful to the radiologist; the second one involves a critical point of view of the imaging interpretation by the radiologist; the last one emphasizes the communication between the patient, the GP and the radiologist.

At the present time two CMEs have been performed. Immediate participant appreciation was enthusiastic and only some minor revisions were needed. Further evaluation upon changes of practices has now to be made.

This CME deserves to provide not only a new practice learning model, but also a humanistic perspective.