title: A simple tool to evoke physicians' real training needs.
abstract: Commonly used methods for identifying the training needs of general practitioners do not enable the real needs felt during interviews with patients during office visits to be detected. In this study, the authors evaluate how physicians' use of a personal-office-visit diary affects the level of specificity of their expressed training needs. In 1999, the authors carried out a controlled intervention trial using a random sample of 1,038 general practitioners from a region of France, randomized to intervention and control groups. The practitioners in the intervention group were asked to identify their training needs using a personal-office-visit diary. The level of specificity for their expressed needs was compared with that of the expressed needs of the practitioners in the control group. The use of the diary was associated with a significantly higher level of specificity in the training needs identified by the general practitioners who participated. Independent of the intervention, practitioners under 40 years of age, those in urban practice, and those who were members of a continuing medical education (CME) association expressed their training needs with higher specificity. The personal-office-visit diary would seem to be a simple, inexpensive, and useful tool for more specifically identifying training needs, which could help establish more appropriate and better-targeted training programs. However, it should be assessed further by those involved in CME for general practitioners.
authors: Department of Public Health, Léon Bérard Center, Lyon, France. perold@lyon.fnclcc.fr.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Pérol
authors: Jean-Pierre
authors: JP
authors: Boissel
authors: Christiane
authors: C
authors: Broussolle
authors: Jean-Charles
authors: JC
authors: Cêtre
authors: Jean
authors: J
authors: Stagnara
authors: Franck
authors: F
authors: Chauvin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020380:Needs Assessment