evaluation of the psychiatry residency graduates knowledge and competencies has traditionally relied on the individual patient assessment (ipa) method (1,2). however, this method is unreliable and its outcome depends to a large extent on the luck of the draw (3-5). past research has shown that objective structured clinical examination (osce) method has many advantages over ipa (6-9). as a resul...

INTRODUCTION Primary care in the United States faces unprecedented challenges from an aging population and the accompanying prevalence of chronic disease. In response, continuing medical education (CME) initiatives have begun to adopt the principles of performance improvement (PI) into their design, although currently there is a dearth of evidence from national initiatives supporting the effect...

Although the concept of needs assessment in continuing medical education is well accepted, there is limited information on needs assessment in postgraduate medical education. We discuss the learning needs of postgraduate trainees and review the various methods of needs assessment such as: questionnaire surveys, interviews, focus groups, chart audits, chart-stimulated recall, standardized patien...

A well designed outcomes research study was performed in which 20 primary care physicians were selected to participate. Each physician had more than 30 fibromyalgia patients in their practice. The study design consisted of four phases. In phase one, physicians undertook a self-assessment of their practice. Phase two of the study involved diagnosis and treatment of a virtual case vignette. The t...

Both the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada have established standards for efficacious, unbiased continuing education. We have gone well beyond traditional continuing medical education into continuing professional development, which encourages our members to engage in self-assessment, self-reflection and activities that allow us to ...

BACKGROUND Problem based learning (PBL) is used increasingly in undergraduate medical education, but there are few postgraduate medical studies. AIM To compare SHO learning outcomes for a PBL course with a traditional didactic course. METHODS As part of their protected teaching programme, 14 senior house officers (SHOs) were taught about paediatric dermatology using a traditional didactic c...

OBJECTIVE To determine the degree to which self-selected walking speed (SSWS), maximal walking speed (MWS), and walking speed reserve (WSR) are associated with fall status among community-dwelling older adults. DESIGN WS and 1-year falls history data were collected on 217 community-dwelling older adults (median age = 82, range 65-93 years) at a local outpatient PT clinic and local retirement ...

Maintenance of professional competence remains an exercise of lifelong learning and an essential requirement for evidence -based medical practice. Physicians attend continuing medical education (CME) programs to update their knowledge. Often CME programs remain the main source of updating current information. CME organizers have considerable responsibility in determining appropriate curriculum ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The maintenance of certification (MOC) process has begun in radiology, and many physicians will be affected by it. We sought to assess the compliance with and knowledge of the MOC steps by American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) members. MATERIALS AND METHODS An on-line survey was distributed via e-mail to the members of the ASNR for whom e-mail addresses were availab...