ABSTRACT
The study aimed to find out the status of postgraduate training and continuing medical education [CME] of family physicians of Pakistan. It was a 10 months postal survey between November 2009 and September 2010. Postal questionnaires were sent to randomly selected 1200 family physicians. The data was analyzed using SPSS v-17. The response rate of survey was 24%. The number of family physicians receiving any kind of post graduate training was 104 [36%] while 184 [64%] had no postgraduate training at all. Medicine was the most common subject in postgraduate training [N=19, 18% of 104]. The number of family physicians holding any degree was 87 [30%]. Mean weekly time spent on self education was 6.5 hours with a range of 1 to 10 hours. Most of family physicians are practicing without training and mostly update their knowledge from books and use of online CME is low
ABSTRACT
To find the effectiveness of Continuing Medical Education [CME] program as a tool for professional development by comparing the passing rates of those doctors who participated in CME course with those who did not take the CME program. Doctors who appeared in Membership of Royal College of General Practitioners [MRCGP] exam in 2007 and 2008 from Lahore Examination Center were included in the study. Their data was compiled from copies of their registration forms and results announced by Royal College of General Practitioners, UK. A total of 145 Family Physicians appeared in MRCGP Exam in 2007 and 2008. One hundred fourteen [78%] were members of CME and 31 [22%] were not. Twenty eight were successful in final part 2 of MRCGP Exam, out of which 27 [96% of 28] were CME members and one [6%] were non members. Continuing Medical Education programs can also be used to prepare practicing Family Physicians for postgraduate exam