[What do general practitioners do to keep themselves up to date?].
BACKGROUND
Continuing education should ensure that a doctor provides effective care based on the best available evidence. But not all continuing education is equally effective.


METHODS
A questionnaire on continuing education was sent to 1500 general practitioners (GPs) in Norway. The response rate was 58%.


RESULTS
GPs spent on average 2.3 hours per week on continuing education. Discharge reports were used daily for continuing education by 75% of GPs and represented 10% of the total time spent on continuing education in a 30-day period. Courses were not used so often but took up a lot of time when attended. Traditional lectures accounted for 80% of course instruction. Learning something new and improving practice were the two most important objectives for participating in continuing education. Around every second GP participated in a small group of colleagues.


CONCLUSIONS
GPs spend a lot of time on continuing education activities that research has shown to have little or no effect on practice. It is essential that the activities used are evaluated to a much greater extent than what they are now.
Treweek
Shaun
S
Avdeling for informerte helsebeslutninger, Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter for helsetjenesten, Postboks 7004 St. Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo.
Flottorp
Signe
S
Fretheim
Atle
A
Håvelsrud
Kari
K
Kristoffersen
Doris Tove
DT
Oxman
Andy
A
Aasland
Olaf Gjerløw
OG
D002983:Clinical Competence; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000379:methods; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D009664:Norway; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires