Article in English.
Abstract (on the website of The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions):
The aim of this study was to investigate physicians´ coping with the increasing body of medical knowledge and the relation between this coping and their continuing medical education (CME) activities. A cross-sectional postal survey among a randomized sample of 1476 Norwegian physicians was conducted. The main outcome measure was a self-reported ability to obtain sufficient information to keep updated in their daily work. The relative risks of being a coper are given as odds ratios (ORs) for the categories of seven hypothetical predictor variables. The response rate was 70.5%, with 68.5% of the physicians reporting that they are able to obtain the sufficient information for keeping updated. In a multiple logistic regression analysis, being a male (OR: 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25-2.45), attending conferences or meetings more than 15 days per year (OR: 2.69, CI: 1.62-4.48), and reading medical literature more than 2 hours per week (OR: 1.97, CI: 1.33-2.91) were significant predictors of such coping. Physicians who managed to cope with the medical information had a lower level of emotional distress (OR: 2.00, CI: 1.21-3.30) and a higher level of job satisfaction (OR: 1.55, CI: 1.14-2.12) than noncopers. Physicians who give CME activities a high priority are more likely to regard themselves sufficiently updated than others. The ability to cope with the increasing flow of medical information is clearly related to doctors´ well-being and job satisfaction.
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