• Vernon R Curran, David Keegan, Wanda Parsons, Greg Rideout, David Tannenbaum, Normand Dumoulin, Fran Kirby, and Lisa J Fleet.
• Centre for Collaborative Health Professional Education, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Nfld.
• Can J Rural Med. 2007 Jan 1;12(3):161-6.

ObjectiveTo assess the perceived continuing medical education (CME) needs of a cohort of Canadian family physicians.MethodsWe distributed a questionnaire survey to Canadian family physicians who became Certificant members of the College of Family Physicians in 2001 and practised outside the province of Quebec. Main outcome measures were self-reported CME needs, professional development needs and preferences for CME delivery methods.ResultsWe distributed 482 surveys and 197 questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 40.9%. Significant differences between rural and urban respondents' self-reported CME needs were found in the clinical areas of dermatology, endocrinology, emergency medicine, musculoskeletal, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, psychiatry and urology. Generally, a greater proportion of rural respondents reported significantly higher CME needs in emergency medicine. Urban respondents reported a significant preference for consulting colleagues as a method of CME, while rural respondents reported a significant preference for videoconferencing.ConclusionSelf-reported CME needs and preferences for CME delivery methods differ on the basis of region of practice and size of the community in which family physicians' practise.

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