Challenges of Contemporary Practice: Internists Maintaining Competency in Multiple Specialties

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physician Competency
• Continuing Professional Development

Background:

• Increasing physician specialization necessitates high-quality continuing professional development for mastery learning.
• Board certification, a surrogate for physician competency, may be suboptimally aligned with its intended purpose.
• Understanding physician motivation for maintaining competence across multiple specialties is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the motivations driving physicians to pursue and maintain competence in multiple medical specialties.
• To identify factors influencing continued education and lifelong learning in board-certified physicians across diverse fields.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study employing thematic analysis of semistructured virtual interviews.
• Utilized the theoretical framework of "landscapes of practice" from sociocultural learning theory.
• Included fifteen internists and their subspecialties engaged in continual board certification.

Main Results:

• Identified six key themes motivating physicians to maintain competency in multiple specialties.
• Themes include: Social responsibility, Promise of expertise, Enhanced job opportunities, Widened expertise, Professional requirements, and Personal fulfillment.
• Physicians are motivated by a blend of altruistic, professional, and personal drivers.

Conclusions:

• Physician competency maintenance is a continuous, lifelong learning process within an evolving medical landscape.
• A segment of internal medicine physicians are motivated to practice across multiple specialties, acknowledging associated opportunities and challenges.
• Organizational education should focus on hybrid learning, emphasizing cross-discipline training to address current gaps in continuing professional development.