The learning preferences of rural and remote general practitioners. A quantitative analysis and its implications for the RACGP QA&CE program.

AIM

To establish the QA&CE needs of rural and remote GPs. In order to assess the fit between The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' QA&CE program and these needs, learning preferences identified in this survey are compared to previous research published in Australia, 1987-1997, and matched against program objectives and guidelines.

METHOD

In 1998 the RACGP surveyed 900 rural general practitioners (GPs) across Australia in three randomised samples. These samples were stratified respectively by membership of the Rural Faculty of the RACGP and practice location in RRMAs 3-7. The overall response rate was 78%.

RESULTS

Self directed learning was rated by 65.3% of respondents as a preferred method of maintaining professional standards, a rating that corresponded significantly to familiarity with this approach to learning (p = 0.006), and even more so among younger GPs. This was second only to CME at 85.6%. By comparison, there was a low orientation toward some learning methods identified elsewhere as effective, such as clinical audit (15.6%) and peer review (14.5%). There were positive correlations, however, between preference and familiarity for these methods (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that self directed learning, a major learning preference of rural and remote GPs, may currently be underserviced by the RACGP's QA&CE program. The program also needs to promote more strongly the effectiveness of less preferred modes of education, such as peer review and clinical audit, given the stronger preference indicated for less effective modes.