Study tracks learning via online CME

Nearly all of the physicians surveyed reported making practice changes after completing their courses.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. March 22/29, 2004.

Online CME has a modest effect on physician knowledge over the long term. Doctors value the content quality of online CME above all else, and the more interactive the program, the more satisfied physicians are.

These are a few of the findings from the "Study of Continuing Online Physician Education," conducted by the continuing medical education department of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, in collaboration with CECity, a developer of online education technologies.

Touted as a milestone in CME research, the study, funded by the Merck Co. Foundation, has won the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education's 2004 William Campbell Felch/Wyeth Award for Research in CME.

"Most of our programming has been transformed from programs that require the physician to come to us. Now, we are delivering it to them," said Robert Kristofco, associate professor and director of continuing medical education at UAB.

The study looked at why physicians access specific online courses, what they learned from the course, whether case-based courses were more effective than text-based courses and if physicians make any practice changes as a result.

Some 1,800 physicians participated, with 720 completing posttests. The doctors took a pretest evaluation, a posttest review and a follow-up test four weeks later.