The general practitioner and continuing education

Concern that the existing provision for organized continuing education was not matching the needs of general practitioners in either content or teaching method prompted this Nottinghamshire survey. An initial postal questionnaire elicited responses from 50 per cent of a sample of general practitioners in the county; the non-responding group was then followed up by use of an abbreviated questionnaire and interviews, with about 50 per cent success. The findings are derived from the main sample and from two subsamples of the non-responders.The findings from the survey have shown up the relative popularity of section 63 courses and, in addition, have revealed that two thirds of those doctors who did not attend section 63 courses had attended some other form of educational activity, which suggests that only a small number of general practitioners have poor motivation towards their own continuing education. The content on offer would appear to be in the most popular areas and the methods used the most acceptable. However, a low priority was accorded to research and audit techniques, and this is disturbing.