Richardson M L, Norris T E
Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7115, USA.
AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1997 May;168(5):1161-4. doi: 10.2214/ajr.168.5.9129405.
On-line continuing medical education (CME) courses offer at least two potential advantages: They are extremely convenient and relatively inexpensive. Before expanding our department's 2-year-old on-line category 1 accredited CME program, we conducted a survey to assess the need for more courses of this type and to document those topics of most interest to our responders.
An on-line survey form was designed and linked to the home page of our departmental Web server. The 8-month survey asked whether responders were interested in earning category 1 CME hours, how many hours they desired, how much they were willing to pay for each hour, and which topics would interest them most. Responders were also asked to specify their medical practice and medical specialty. All responses were tabulated, and simple descriptive statistics were calculated.
Our survey received 317 responses: 188 from physicians, 42 from radiology technologists, 11 from physician assistants and nurse practitioners, and the remainder from 26 other categories of practice. Physician specialties identified included 86 diagnostic radiologists, 24 internists, 18 emergency medicine specialists, 15 family practitioners, and 45 from 14 other specialties. Responses came mainly from the United States; however, 32 responses were received from 15 other countries. The median number of on-line CME hours desired was 15 (range, 1-1324). Physician responders were willing to pay a median amount of $10 per credit hour (range, $0-400). The most commonly suggested topic was general radiology, followed by general reviews of MR imaging, CT, sonography, and various organ-based specialties in radiology such as mammography, neuroradiology, and musculoskeletal radiology.
Physicians and many other health care workers are interested in on-line CME and are willing to pay for such a service. This information, as well as the suggested topics collected in this survey, may prove helpful in planning future offerings of on-line CME.
在线继续医学教育（CME）课程至少具有两个潜在优势：极其便捷且成本相对较低。在扩大本部门已有两年历史的在线1类认证CME项目之前，我们进行了一项调查，以评估对更多此类课程的需求，并记录受访者最感兴趣的主题。
设计了一份在线调查问卷，并将其链接到我们部门网页服务器的主页。为期8个月的调查询问了受访者是否有兴趣获得1类CME学分、他们希望获得多少学分、每学分愿意支付多少钱，以及他们最感兴趣的主题。还要求受访者说明其医疗实践和医学专业。对所有回复进行了列表统计，并计算了简单的描述性统计数据。
我们的调查共收到317份回复：188份来自医生，42份来自放射技师，11份来自医师助理和执业护士，其余来自其他26类医疗从业者。确定的医生专业包括86名诊断放射科医生、24名内科医生、18名急诊医学专家、15名家庭医生，以及来自其他14个专业的45人。回复主要来自美国；然而，也收到了来自其他15个国家的32份回复。期望的在线CME学分中位数为15（范围为1 - 1324）。医生受访者每学分愿意支付的中位数为10美元（范围为0 - 400美元）。最常被提及的主题是普通放射学，其次是磁共振成像、CT、超声的综合综述，以及放射学中各种基于器官的专业，如乳腺摄影、神经放射学和肌肉骨骼放射学。
医生和许多其他医护人员对在线CME感兴趣，并愿意为这类服务付费。这些信息以及本次调查收集的建议主题，可能有助于规划未来的在线CME课程。
