title: [What do general practitioners do to keep themselves up to date?].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Avdeling for informerte helsebeslutninger, Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter for helsetjenesten, Postboks 7004 St. Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo.
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Treweek
authors.forename: Signe
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flottorp
authors.forename: Atle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fretheim
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Håvelsrud
authors.forename: Doris Tove
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Kristoffersen
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oxman
authors.forename: Olaf Gjerløw
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Aasland
mesh_terms: 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