A Comparative Study on Structured Continuing Medical Education Programs with 25 and 5 Credit Points According to the Viewpoints of General Physicians in Golestan Province

Introduction: Since the year 2004, structured Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs with 25 credit points were each divided into five programs of 5 credit points which were shorter in duration. The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative study on the two programs, in terms of program success, relevance to professional needs, and participants’ satisfaction. Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on four programs with 25 credit points during the year 2003 and four programs with 5 credit points during the year 2004 in Golestan province. The tool used for this research was a questionnaire designed by the ministry of health for the evaluation of CME programs which were completed by the participants at the end of each session. The questions were arranged in three sections: the success of the programs in strengthening the previous information and presenting new scientific topics, the relevance of programs content with participant’s professional needs, and their satisfaction with the programs. The sample size for the three-day programs (25 credits) was 121 persons and for one-day programs (5 credits) was 64. Data analysis (descriptive analysis and Mann-Whitney test) was done using SPSS software. Results: One-day programs were considered as successful according to 76.9% of the participants, while 59.6% of participants rated the three-day programs as successful. Seventy five and nine percent of participants of one-day and 57.4% of three-day programs considered the contents relevant to their profes-sional needs. Seventy nine and seven percent of participants, in one-day and 66.2% in three-day programs were satisfied with the programs. There was a statistically significant difference between the success, relevance, and the satisfaction between one-day and three-day programs. Conclusion: The results of this research indicate that as a whole the success rate of 5-point CME programs was better than 25-point ones. This could be attributed to their better focus on subjects, shorter duration, and more diversity in topics. Therefore it is suggested that CME organizers, focus their efforts to increase the diversity and quantity of one-day CME programs for general physicians by using new scientific resources.