Postgraduate medical education in Denmark.

POSTGRADUATE education has been discussed to a great extent among doctors, association committees, health authorities and among university 'teachers. Owing to the relative shortage of teachers a 'co-ordination committee which has recently been appointed has just started work. The committee collects information about all postgraduate education planned or running for general practitioners and specialists. It is likely that this committee will fill a central role in the organization of postgraduate education in the near future. General practitioners possess the confidence of the public in Denmark. However, the health authorities as well as the Medical Association know that many general practitioners never appear at postgraduate courses and doubt whether this gap is filled by home-study. This doubt lies behind the courses mentioned below, but so far the attendance does not come up to our expectations. Sooner or later the following conclusion will be openly admitted: a certain minority of general practitioners never appear voluntarily at postgraduate courses. In consequence of this will the responsible authorities propose compulsory postgraduate courses ? The answers to a questionnaire concerning the ,postgraduate education of general practitioners in many European countries and the U.S.A. told us two years ago that in all the countries investigated postgraduate education is voluntary. But compulsory education exists in some ' Eastern ' countries and in Yugoslavia as a condition for continuLious authorization. So far, this problem seems to be less important for specialists who attend meetings of the Scientific Medical Societies fairly regularly. The following is a summary of the present arrangements: