The study of general practitioners’ views on the content of composed programs in Zahedan

Background: Nowadays because of rapid advance in sciences, updating the knowledge of
graduates is of great important. Due to the fact that continuous medical education programs
have been started a decade ago, frequent research is necessary to identify the needs and
priorities, create motivation, encourage participation, as well as enhancing learners utilization.
The aim of study was to collect general practitioners’ views about the content of composed
programs in 2000 in the city of Zahedan.
Methods and Materials: The present descriptive study was performed using questionnaires
including 29 questions for three composed programs.156 general practitioners were selected to
attend three composed continuous medical education programs (C-CME programs).They all
responded.
Results: The results showed that 87/8% participants believed in applied topics to be
presented and 78/2%like to be informed of materials and references in advance.76/3% of them
demanded the presentation of materials with concern to seasonal and local health problem, and
the concerned opinions to be taken in account for selection of the program contents. The time
did not correspond to the content of the composed programs for internal medicine and surgery,
as was stated by 85/3% and 82/9% of the participants, respectively. 50% of the responders
believe that the C-CME programs don’t have any positive aspect.
Conclusions: With regard to the results of the present research, in order to improve
continuous education programs, the following factors should be taken into consideration to
select the subject with accuracy, to set aside appropriate time for each topic, the priority of
indigenous and seasonal diseases, to take advantage of the needs assessment to select the
subject, to keep the participants informed about the materials and resources in use.