This article views continuing education as the body of experiences that follow the individual's formal training and continue throughout his career until his withdrawal from the labor force. Its focus is on the type of continuing education required for the achievement of health for all by the year 2000. The relations between this and the other forms of education are described, and the factors associated with the growing importance of this form in health systems today are discussed. On this basis the article identifies some of the problems and limitations of continuing education, enumerates methods for determining the requirements of health personnel for this kind of education, and suggests possible future strategies, which are considered as beyond the capabilities and purview of any single institution to formulate or implement on the national scale. It therefore suggests the establishment of national systems of continuing education that will articulate the different establishments concerned in an interinstitutional organization with a unified policy, programs and budget. Only then can systematic, progressively sequenced instruction, geared to development of the skills required for specific functions and responsibilities be provided for all health occupations. The article ends with an enumeration of the desirable features of a system of this kind.
本文将继续教育视为个体在接受正规培训之后所经历的一系列体验，并贯穿其整个职业生涯，直至退出劳动力市场。其重点在于到2000年实现全民健康所需的继续教育类型。文中描述了这种教育与其他教育形式之间的关系，并讨论了与当今卫生系统中这种教育形式日益重要相关的因素。在此基础上，本文指出了继续教育的一些问题和局限性，列举了确定卫生人员对这类教育需求的方法，并提出了未来可能的策略，这些策略被认为超出了任何单一机构在国家层面制定或实施的能力和范围。因此，本文建议建立国家继续教育体系，该体系将在一个具有统一政策、项目和预算的机构间组织中，明确不同相关机构的职责。只有这样，才能为所有卫生职业提供系统的、循序渐进的指导，以培养履行特定职能和职责所需的技能。本文最后列举了这类体系应具备的理想特征。
