Factors influencing Indiana Psychiatric Society members in the selection of continuing medical education : an archival study

In the field of postgraduate medical education- there is a need for baseline information on what factors influence physicians in their selection of Continuing Medical Education (CME). Furthermore, there is an ever-growing need to learn how practitioners prefer their CME to he delivered and in what venue it should be offered. CME should represent what is understood about how physicians change behavior.The purpose of this study was to describe what factors influenced members of the Indiana Psychiatric Society in their attendance and selection of a particular Continuing Medical Education event. Using archival data from the 2004 Indiana Psychiatric Needs Assessment Survey. this study examined demographic variables—such as gender and age—and their influences on Continuing Medical Education. Moreover, using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations. and Chi-square analyses. the research study also focused on the statistical relationships which existed between the nine various factors influencing attendance: price. location. interest in topic. outside attraction. personal invitation, speaker, deficiency of knowledge day of the week. and personal invitation. The 2004 Needs Assessment Survey was completed electronically by 80 members of the Indiana Psychiatric Society over a 60-day period during the summer of 2004.Several conclusions were derived from the major findings. Outside attraction was the most significant factor for participants selecting a CME activity. The mean average for outside attraction was 4.13 out of a possible five. This finding was the most important factor for both gender and age groups. Conversely, interest in topic was found to be the least significant value with an arithmetic mean score of 1.33 out a possible five. Using Pearson correlation analyses, a strong correlation was found to exist between interest in topic and speaker (.662. p<.01). The second strongest correlation was found between interest in knowledge and other colleagues attending. (.430. p<.01). Fifty out of 76 IPS members surveyed preferred (IMF to be delivered in a lecture format in a traditional one-hour format (31 out of 76).In recommendation as to future study, the researcher suggests employing qualitative research technique to better understand what can actually motivate physicians to change clinical behavior.Department of Educational StudiesThesis (D. Ed.