The fundamental role of the hospital in continuing medical education.
At the turn of the century the concept of lifelong learning as an essential activity of the practicing physician was new to the medical profession. Osler and his contemporaries, who considered the hospital the ideal location for medical education, laid a foundation that assured its growth to maturity and permanency. Over the decades, postgraduate or continuing medical education has become a major activity of medical schools, their teaching hospitals and the whole spectrum of medical societies, from national to local. The emergence of economic crisis and corporate medical care may threaten the structure that evolved since World War I. But the need for continuing medical education remains, and educators will find ways to link it to hospitals and to apply the undoubted potential of computer technology. Osler's concept is still valid.
D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005544:Forecasting; D006761:Hospitals; D012380:Role; D014481:United States