Continuing medical education undertaken by general practitioners using the rural registrar scheme.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the first full year of operation of the rural registrar scheme by comparing the educational activities undertaken by the participating rural general practitioners with those undertaken in the previous year.

DESIGN

Retrospective questionnaire survey mailed to all participants.

SETTING

Continuing medical education (CME) for rural general practitioners (GPs) in South Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

All 25 GPs who used the scheme from July 1989 to June 1990 were included in the study. All were from solo or two person practices in rural South Australia. One had gone abroad and could not be contacted, and 23 of the remaining 24 responded.

INTERVENTIONS

A competent locum was supplied at no cost to the GP, so that the GP could leave the practice to undertake CME.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

GPs were asked to outline CME activities for two consecutive years, to rate the educational value of each activity, and to note whether skill or knowledge acquisition was most relevant.

RESULTS

The rural registrar scheme increased the amount of time that rural GPs spent on CME. The range of topics studied increased considerably.

CONCLUSIONS

The provision of a satisfactory locum service has enabled rural GPs to participate in a wide range of CME activities, which reflect the diversity of general practice. Most participants preferred individual, experiential study programmes to more structured CME programmes.