What Influences Choice of Continuing Medical Education Modalities and Providers? A National Survey of U.S. Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants

Bibliographic Data

ID21614271
AuthorsMaureen O’Brien Pott (M. O'Brien Pottis senior analyst, Planning Services, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.), Anissa S Blanshan (0009-0006-6904-0352, A.S. Blanshanis senior marketing manager, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.), Kelly M Huneke (K.M. Hunekeis instructor, health care administration, and administrator, Center for Military Medicine and Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, Minnesota.), Barbara L Baasch Thomas (B.L. Baasch Thomasis senior director of education and professional development, Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, Minnesota.), Donald A Cook (0000-0003-2383-4633, D.A. Cookis professor of medicine and medical education and director, Section of Research and Data Analytics, Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development; director of education science, Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science; and consultant, Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, Minnesota; ORCID:., corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume96
Issue1
Pages93-100
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAcademic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1040-2446 • E-ISSN: 1938-808X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/acm.0000000000003758
PMID32969838
OpenAlexW3088590791
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited34

PURPOSE: To explore what influences clinicians in selecting continuing medical education (CME) activities in the United States. METHOD: In August 2018, the authors conducted an Internet-based national survey, sampling 100 respondents from each of 5 groups: family medicine physicians, internal medicine and hospitalist physicians, medicine specialist physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. In total, 1,895 clinicians were invited and 500 (26%) responded. Questions addressed the selection and anticipated use of CME delivery modalities and perceived characteristics of specific CME providers. Response formats used best-worst scaling or 5-point ordinal response options. RESULTS: The factors identified as most important in selecting CME activities were topic (best-worst scaling net positivity 0.54), quality of content (0.51), availability of CME credit (0.43), and clinical practice focus (0.41), while referral frequency (-0.57) ranked lowest. The activities that the respondents anticipated using most in the future were live (mean 3.8 [1 = not likely, 5 = very likely]), online (mean 3.5), point-of-care (mean 3.5), and print-based (mean 3.5) activities. For online CME, the features of greatest appeal were that learning could be done when clinicians had time (mean 4.4), at their own pace (mean 4.2), and at lower cost (mean 4.2). For live CME, the features of greatest appeal were that the subject was best taught using this modality (mean 4.0), or the activity was located in a destination spot (mean 4.0) or a regional location (mean 3.9). When rating specific CME providers, most academic institutions received relatively high ratings for research focus and clinical practice focus, whereas commercial providers had slightly higher ratings for ease of access. Responses were generally similar across clinician types and age groups. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants are interested in using a variety of CME delivery modalities. Appealing features of online and live CME were different

Accreditation · Continuing education · Continuing medical education · Family medicine · Graduate medical education · Medical education · MEDLINE · Modalities · Pace · Referral · The Internet · Diversity and Career in Medicine · Hospital Admissions and Outcomes · Innovations in Medical Education · Medicine

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