Help stamp out mandatory continuing education!
G. N. Libby, M. H. Weinswig and K. W. Kirk
Mandatory continuing education programs for health professionals, as they
are now administered, are predictable failures. Such programs may destroy
the will to learn. Objective studies indicate that current continuing
education programs do not influence the methods of practice of the health
professional. Current programs are primarily pedagogical, reflecting the
philosophies and techniques of child-youth education. Present methods of
program evaluation are sorely inadequate. Adults may be coerced into
attendance, but learning and subsequent application of knowledge may not be
forced. Future continuing education programs should be problem-centered.
The adult practitioner must become actively involved in the planning and
execution of these programs.
