MammoWeb continuing medical education (CME): a web-based breast imaging CME program.
(25/1652)
The ubiquity of the world-wide web allows unique educational opportunities for continuing medical education (CME). We have designed a comprehensive breast imaging CME curriculum to permit individual physicians in their homes or offices to use personal computers to ease the burden of this process. Category 1 CME credits can be earned off-hours without having the physician travel out of town. In addition, since the course is computer-based, the overall costs to the participant are substantially reduced. The program can be updated on an ongoing basis to include new technology or to provide additional information requested by the users. (+info)
A new physician's guide to evaluating managed care opportunities.
(26/1652)
AUDIENCE: This article is designed for new physicians and administrators who evaluate and negotiate as providers with managed care organizations. GOALS: To provide a review of the major issues impacting on medical practices as they develop contractual relationships with managed care organizations. OBJECTIVES: 1. To review the four major types of health maintenance organizations, providing some general detail about the financial policies of each. 2. To outline how utilization review and quality assurance policies can affect individual physician practice. 3. To discuss risk-sharing arrangements employed by managed care organizations, including their financial and clinical impact, and to outline the issues a new physician should consider when evaluating a contract. (+info)
How ready are health plans for Medicare?
(27/1652)
CONTEXT: The Medicare program is encouraging its beneficiaries to enroll in capitated health plans. OBJECTIVE: To determine how prepared these plans are to handle chronically ill and frail elderly persons. DESIGN: Telephone survey of 28 health plans that together serve about one fourth of all enrollees of the Medicare Risk program. MEASURES: The degree of readiness (high, intermediate, or low) of health plans in seven domains that experts believe are important to the management of an elderly population. RESULTS: None of the 28 health plans had high readiness scores for all seven domains. The two domains for which the plans were most prepared were risk assessment and member self-care. The plans were least prepared for the domains of cooperative team care and geriatric consultations. CONCLUSIONS: Many plans do not offer the programs that experts believe are important for Medicare enrollees. They may hesitate to adopt strategies that lack data on effectiveness. (+info)
Meeting the educational needs of general practitioners for epilepsy.
(28/1652)
Epilepsy care in general practice has been criticized, but what do GPs feel they deal with most and complete satisfactorily? If criticism is justified, education should be useful in improving epilepsy care, but what do general practitioners want to learn and how do they want to learn it? Questionnaires about these issues were sent to randomly chosen general practitioners throughout the United Kingdom. One hundred and twenty-four out of 200 (62%) responded. They were not biased by age, sex, type of practice or previous interest in epilepsy. Drug treatment and regular review were the two areas of care GPs said they dealt with most, but only half felt they dealt with them well. Sixty-six percent wanted to learn more about drug treatment, 46% about lifestyle advice, 45% about non-drug treatment, 44% about diagnosis and only 16% did not want to learn more about any aspect of care. Weekdays and evenings were the preferred times for study. Courses up to one full day away from practices were popular, distance learning and personal education plans were not, except for a group of younger GPs. When attending courses multi-disciplinary lectures rated highly and nearly three-quarters preferred to attend courses where epilepsy was covered in conjunction with other conditions. Future epilepsy education for GPs should recognize these findings if attendance and positive outcomes are to be maximized. (+info)
Funding clinical research: the need for information and longer term strategies.
(29/1652)
The Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on Specialist Medical Training recommended that training in research methodology should be a recognised component of all postgraduate training programmes and that further consideration be given by those responsible for postgraduate education, training and research to establishing how this might be achieved. Funding of the trainee in research is a crucial aspect of this directive, yet both trainers and trainees have described this as haphazard, invariably reliant on 'soft' money. The subject has raised wide discussion and debate. A questionnaire was sent to 205 consultant urologists in the UK, 154 (75%) replied and 130 (84%) had experience of research during their training. The first report examined their opinion about the contribution of research to their training; this report covers the questions directed towards funding, the source of their funding, whether sufficient funds, advice and information were available and where they might expect to obtain such details. The replies indicated a variety of sources of funding; knowledge about the financial support available for research was sparse and the majority considered there was insufficient advice and information available for trainees on the subject. Substantial funds are available for high quality scientific research programmes providing unprecedented opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration that is essential for advancing clinical practice alongside technological developments. The process of obtaining support can be a time-consuming exercise, raising the need for an administrative infrastructure to select, prioritise and co-ordinate an appropriate research strategy for the future. (+info)
General surgeons and the management of head injuries.
(30/1652)
Most head injuries in Great Britain and Ireland are managed either by orthopaedic or general surgeons. In response to growing anxiety about the arrangements for the management of head injuries, the Royal College of Surgeons of England late in 1997 set up a working party to report to the Senate of Surgery. The results of that survey are presented here. (+info)
Peer consultation reflection exercise.
(31/1652)
OBJECTIVE: To explore participants' overall perception of the value of the Peer Consultation Reflection Exercise (PCRE); of barriers and facilitators to participation and learning during a PCRE; and of the transferability of the experience to participants' own settings. DESIGN: This study used the qualitative techniques of key informant interviews and a focus group. SETTING: Focus group and key informant interviews at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the College of Family Physicians of Canada's Section of Teachers. PARTICIPANTS: Family medicine teachers attending a PCRE. METHOD: Five key informant interviews and one focus group composed of five participants were conducted to explore participants' experience of participating and learning during a PCRE. MAIN FINDINGS: Participants viewed the PCRE as a valuable opportunity to interact and learn from colleagues a were especially impressed with the opportunity to listen. Confidentiality and the important role of the facilitator were identified as key components. The greatest perceived barrier was the formal structure of the PCRE. CONCLUSIONS: The PCRE is an innovative strategy for personal and professional development. It could be used in other settings. (+info)
Disease management of congestive heart failure.
(32/1652)
AUDIENCE: This article is designed for primary care physicians, cardiovascular specialists, medical directors, and other managed care administrators responsible for heart failure patients. GOAL: To provide the reader with a basic understanding of heart failure epidemiology, heart failure management, and different strategies for the management of this particular patient population. OBJECTIVES: 1. To describe the impact of heart failure on the healthcare system in the United States. 2. To briefly describe the current practice for managing heart failure. 3. To describe the evidence for care by cardiologists of heart failure patients. 4. To describe the different disease management strategies being utilized in heart failure management. (+info)