Developing educators for continuing professional development.
Continuing professional development (CPD) is part of the medical education continuum, has been shown to produce improved physician practice and good patient outcomes, and is increasingly required for revalidation of medical licensure. CPD can be considered a discipline in its own right but is the least formally organized stage in medical education. CPD educators play a central role, but there has been remarkably little published work specifically describing CPD educators. This narrative review, using ophthalmology as exemplar medical specialty, describes trends affecting CPD educators and their sources, attributes, and development needs, mainly extrapolated from information regarding other medical educators in the medical education continuum spectrum. Future research needs are discussed.
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: hmack@eyesurgery.com.au.
Heather G
HG
Mack
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Sukhpal Singh
SS
Sandhu
Hospital of the Armed Forces, Lisbon, Portugal.
Helena Prior
HP
Filipe
D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D040441:Health Educators / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000193:education*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care