title: Continuing Medical Education: A Cross Sectional Study on a Developing Country's Perspective.
abstract: To determine the attitude of general practitioners towards continuing medical education (CME) and reasons motivating or hindering them from attending CME procedures, we conducted a cross-sectional survey from November 2013 to April 2014 in Karachi. Three hundred general practitioners who possessed a medical license for practice in Pakistan filled a pre-designed questionnaire consisting of questions pertaining to attitudes towards CME. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS v16.0. 70.3% (n = 211) of the participants were males. Mean age was 47.75 ± 9.47 years. Only 67.33% knew about CME and only 52% had attended a CME session. Reasons for attending CME procedures reported were: need for updating knowledge, skills and competencies (67.30%), opportunity to meet colleagues (18.58%) and presenting scientific papers (8.97%). Mean Likert score was 1.67 (±0.667) for those who thought CME is worthwhile and 1.44 (±0.686) for those who consider their clinical duties as the major hurdle in attending CME procedures. Most common cause for not attending CME was lack of knowledge (32.66%) followed by time constraint (24%). Most physicians were not sufficiently informed about the potential benefits of CME and had never attended a CME session. Most common reason for attending CME procedures reported was need for updating knowledge, skills and competencies while reasons hindering physicians from attending CME were lack of knowledge and time constraint.
authors.affiliation: Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan. syedarsalanali1@gmail.com.|, Flat B-202 Al Habib Complex Plot B-71 Street 11 Block "L" North Nazimabad, Karachi, 74700, Pakistan. syedarsalanali1@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Syed Arsalan
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: St. Francis Medical Center, Trenton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Shaikh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamiz Ul Fawwad
authors.affiliation: Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Gulrayz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Patel Hospital Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sumayya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naz
authors.affiliation: Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Syeda Aimen
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Waqar
authors.affiliation: Civil Hospital Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Anam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hareem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010154:Pakistan; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017748:Time Management
keywords: Continuing medical education; Developing world; General physicians