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General practitioners' reasons for not attending a higher professional education course
1Wessex Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Professional Development in General Practice, Wessex Regional Health Authority.
Background:
A proposal to run a higher professional education course attracted strong initial interest. However, only 12% of those 74 general practitioners expressing an interest subsequently enrolled on the course.
Aim:
A study was undertaken to examine the factors that demotivated the remaining 88% from attending.
Method:
A questionnaire was sent to the non-attenders, asking them to rank the impact of each of six factors on their decision not to attend.
Results:
Major factors included time commitment, general practice workload and family pressures. Cost, attitudes of practice partners and structure of the course were much less important.
Conclusion:
It seems that the conditions imposed by the current demands of working as a general practitioner, rather than the attitudes of the general practitioners themselves, inhibit this form of continuing professional development.