General practitioners' perceptions of continuing medical education's role in changing behaviour

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• General Practice
• Continuing Professional Development

Background:

• The efficacy of mandatory, prescriptive continuing medical education (CME) for New Zealand general practitioners (GPs) is debated.
• Motivational interviewing theory posits that gradual interventions foster a need for change, leading to action.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore GPs' perspectives on their CME needs.
• To understand GPs' experiences with CME provision.
• To assess GPs' perceptions of CME's impact on clinical behavior.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study design.
• Semi-structured interviews conducted with 24 GPs.
• Participants recruited from Auckland and North Island rural areas.

Main Results:

• GPs view CME as an essential lifelong process for incremental behavior change, reinforced by diverse knowledge sources.
• Single CME events rarely impact behavior, unlike high-impact punitive or incentive-based interventions.
• GPs utilize various CME sources (reading, internet, colleagues, feedback, meetings); time is the primary barrier, and credit-based quotas are often viewed negatively.

Conclusions:

• General practitioners often struggle to accurately assess their learning needs, with behavior change being evolutionary.
• Multi-faceted interventions and reinforcement from multiple sources are most effective for changing clinical practice.
• Credit-based CME systems may deter time-constrained GPs from engaging with diverse learning opportunities, hindering motivation for change.