Needs and demands of continuing medical education for general practitioners after completion of residency training

Objective To assess the needs and demand of continuing medical education (CME) for general practitioners (GPs) after completion of residency training. Methods A series of surveys were carried out from July 2015 to December 2015 using a questionnaire on needs and demands of CME among 152 GPs, who completed residency training in Zhongshan Hospital from September 2000 to July 2013. Results One hundred and fifty two valid questionnaires were received with a retrieval rate of 100%. Among 512 participants, 53 (34.9%) regarded CME as necessary, 129 (84.9%) were willing or very willing to receive CME, 87 (68.9%) stated that they were willing to receive CME even without credits, 120 of them (78.9%) stated that the primary purpose of receiving CME was to update professional knowledge; 87(57.2%) stated lack of certain knowledge and 52 (34.2%) stated lack of certain skills to some extent; 8 (5.3%) thought that the previous CME they received did not completely meet their needs, 105 (69.1%) thought that it partially met their needs; 136 (89.5%) thought that only high level experts were suitable for CME teaching; the teaching methods they preferred were problem-based learning (PBL), followed by case study, clinical demonstration and instruction, and systematic lectures focused on common clinical problems; 88 (57.9%) preferred short term training with an average length of 5.01 days (91.4%, 139/152); 111(75.0%) preferred CME course to be offered on both workdays and off hours. The factors influencing willingness to attend CME included length of time (87.5%, 133/152), lack of suitable program (64.5%, 98/152), monotonous way of training, impractical training contents and its inconsistency with actual need (60.3%, 91/52). Conclusion The needs and demands of continuing medical education for GPs completing residency training are high. The results of this study would provide useful information for effective implementation of continuing medical education for GPs. Key words: General Practitioner; Standardized training; Questionnaires