Continuing medical education in Wisconsin: current status and future directions.

Continuing medical education (CME) of physicians, a life-long commitment, is one of the foundations of medical professionalism. This article outlines CME objectives and the regulatory framework through which it is delivered, addressing the safeguards against commercial intrusion and the preservation of scientific objectivity. The article also includes a brief review of the principles of adult learning in general, and of physicians in particular. The overall effectiveness of CME in terms of proximal learning and distal improvement of patient care outcomes is critically analyzed, and the future of CME is outlined briefly.