Appraisal of the retention of the knowledge for ophthalmology specialists of the Brazilian Ophthalmology Council.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the retention of knowledge along the years after certification of physicians as ophthalmology specialists.


METHODS
The physicians, former ophthalmology residents, were selected at the Department of Ophthalmology, State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, and randomly allocated to three groups of seven individuals, according to the time as specialists. Group 1 consisted of one-year specialists, group 2 of five-year specialists and group 3 of ten-year specialists. Each participant answered a test with twenty-five multiple choice randomly selected questions, based on the national certificate tests applied by the Brazilian Ophthalmology Council between 1994 and 2003. Each question scored four points.


RESULTS
The mean age of groups 1, 2 and 3 was 27, 30 and 36 years, respectively. A preponderance of males was found in all groups. Group 1 achieved the highest score, average of 88, group 2 achieved 77, and group 3 achieved the lowest, average of 64 (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Loss of knowledge retention amongst specialists of the Brazilian Ophthalmology Council, has been observed along the years after the certification.
Limeira-Soares
Paulo Henrique
PH
Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil. limeira@fcm.unicamp.br
Lira
Rodrigo Pessoa Cavalcanti
RP
Paccola
Marcelo
M
Arieta
Carlos Eduardo Leite
CE
D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000193:education*; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013044:Specialty Boards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires