Continuing medical education.

1. Continuing medical education is unquestionably a worthwhile goal. Knowledge or exposure to information, however, does not ensure competence in medical care; nevertheless, without knowledge there is no possibility of true competence. 2. Continuing medical education should not be judged by recall knowledge but should ensure exposure to current and acceptable medical knowledge. 3. Because all licensed physicians have unrestricted licenses regardless of their specialty, they all should benefit from a comprehensive type of CME. 4. An open-book examination with reference sources appended to the questions would expose the physician to current and acceptable medical knowledge. 5. Recall types of examinations have no place in practical CME.