OBJECTIVE: To describe the offer of continuing medical education (CME) in palliative care in Flanders, Belgium and to explore the way providers of CME address the preferences of general practitioners (GP's) towards CME. METHODS: Questionnaire-survey among official providers of formal CME. RESULTS: The response rate was 43%, equally distributed over all 5 provinces of Flanders. Data show large content gaps, an under usage of appropriate educational techniques and an absence of evaluation of the impact of CME on clinical practice. Providers of CME explain how they take the preferences of GP's concerning education in palliative care into account. CONCLUSIONS: The present offer of CME is insufficient to educate GP's in palliative care. The absence of quality criteria and the lack of coordination between different providers results in an unattractive labyrinth of courses leaving GP's and their patients in the cold. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A comprehensive offer of CME sessions should be installed in a coordination between all providers. This could render the use of means (logistics and speakers) more efficient. Further research could look into other ways of acquiring palliative care competences such as evaluating the learning effect of GP's working together with specialized palliative home care teams.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the offer of continuing medical education (CME) in palliative care in Flanders, Belgium and to explore the way providers of CME address the preferences of general practitioners (GP's) towards CME. METHODS: Questionnaire-survey among official providers of formal CME. RESULTS: The response rate was 43%, equally distributed over all 5 provinces of Flanders. Data show large content gaps, an under usage of appropriate educational techniques and an absence of evaluation of the impact of CME on clinical practice. Providers of CME explain how they take the preferences of GP's concerning education in palliative care into account. CONCLUSIONS: The present offer of CME is insufficient to educate GP's in palliative care. The absence of quality criteria and the lack of coordination between different providers results in an unattractive labyrinth of courses leaving GP's and their patients in the cold. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A comprehensive offer of CME sessions should be installed in a coordination between all providers. This could render the use of means (logistics and speakers) more efficient. Further research could look into other ways of acquiring palliative care competences such as evaluating the learning effect of GP's working together with specialized palliative home care teams.
Authors: Peter Pype; Wim Peersman; Johan Wens; Ann Stes; Bart Van den Eynden; Myriam Deveugele Journal: BMC Health Serv Res Date: 2014-11-07 Impact factor: 2.655
Authors: Peter Pype; Linda Symons; Johan Wens; Bart Van den Eynden; Ann Stes; Myriam Deveugele Journal: BMC Fam Pract Date: 2014-02-19 Impact factor: 2.497