[A decade of continuing medical education in France (1983-1993)]

Continuing education is not compulsory to medical doctors in France. However, nearly all of them make use of several means for knowledge and practice refreshment. Medical journals are the first rank, both for GP's and specialists. The two groups behave differently as concerns the other means. Medical specialists who, in France, can practice outwith or within hospitals, have their continuing education closely related to public hospitals. GP's prefer in general to base their own on means which are not related to hospitals: sessions organized by the profession, visitors from pharmaceutical firms... etc... There is a broad discrepancy between the use of an educational mean and its rating as first priority. However, as far as French GP's are concerned, medical journals and sessions organized by the profession are at the first rank both for utilization frequency and priority rating. Visitors from pharmaceutical firms are not rated at first priority--although they have a very high utilization frequency--but they obtain an interesting second rank rating. Age, sex and workload have each an effect on priority rating. In many cases, survey findings are not in line with conventional thinking on the matter.