The Journal of continuing education in the health professions
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The concept of professional judgment is considered, including its theoretical foundations, how it is developed, and how it may be assessed. Professionals are asked to engage in complex and unpredictable tasks on society's behalf, and in doing so must exercise their discretion, making judgments--decide what is "best" in the particular situation rather than what is "right" in some absolute sense. Inevitably, some of these judgments lead to "error," which is endemic to professional practice. ⋯ At the foundation of professional judgment is a form of knowledge--called practical wisdom--which is not formally taught and learnt but is acquired largely through experience and informal conversations with respected peers. Wisdom develops through "the critical reconstruction of practice," including deliberation, which is distinguished from mere reflection. Professionals need to engage in the appreciation of their practice--not just to understand what informs their own practice but to consider critically the contestable issues endemic to practicing as a professional.
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J Contin Educ Health Prof · Jan 2001
The longitudinal case study: from Schön's model to self-directed learning.
Rapid changes observed in information technologies, medical practice, and learning methods encourage physicians to develop new updating strategies. To test its feasibility and to help physicians devise new learning and updating strategies, the knowing-in-action model developed by Schön was applied in planning and evaluating an interactive workshop. Acquisition of knowledge was tested. ⋯ A workshop using the longitudinal case study enables physicians to perceive their daily practice through a continuing education activity in which they experience the processes of reflection in action and reflection on action described by Schön. It also increases awareness of the gap between current practice and experts' recommendations and provides an opportunity to evaluate the means for bridging or closing this gap. It sensitizes the physician to patients' changing needs and prompts the clinician to reflect on the who, what, when, where, and how of learning.
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J Contin Educ Health Prof · Jan 2001
Rural and remote Australian general practitioners' educational needs in radiology.
The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care to set up a quality assurance and continuing medical education program for rural and remote general practitioners in radiology to begin in January 2001. An extensive literature search failed to uncover any previous publications on the specific educational or quality assurance needs for rural general practitioners in radiology. Broader educational needs assessments of rural general practitioners in Australia had identified radiology as an important skill for which improvement was desired. ⋯ Local ownership of education is important to successful program development and evaluation. Information obtained from the educational needs assessment was used to develop the Radiology Quality Assurance and Continuing Medical Education Program for Rural and Remote General Practitioners.
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J Contin Educ Health Prof · Jan 2001
Continuing medical education, needs assessment, and program development: theoretical constructs.
Continuing medical education (CME) program development and needs assessment have historically been practiced within the tradition of Ralph Tyler's education model. In light of transformational social, political, economic, and technical forces that demand greater account-ability and responsiveness from physicians, CME units are challenged to transform their cultures and structures from models that deliver education to models that support the facilitation of learning for enhanced competence and performance. This article describes key change forces for physicians and brings program development and needs assessment into focus for the discussion. The impact of change forces on program development and needs assessment are examined, and some techniques to move beyond the traditional approach of felt needs are presented as a way of enabling strategic administrative planning and change management.
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J Contin Educ Health Prof · Jan 2000
Continuing medical education-driven skills acquisition and impact on improved patient outcomes in family practice setting.
An abundance of educational theory, design, and delivery of continuing medical education (CME) learning interventions, including their impact on learners, are described in the health and social sciences literature. However, establishing a direct correlation between the acquisition of new skills by learners and patient outcomes as a result of a planned CME learning intervention has been difficult to demonstrate. ⋯ These results suggest a positive relationship between acquisition of a new skill by learners and improved patient outcomes as a result of this planned CME learning intervention.