Aim. To determine whether the requirements of the reaccreditation prog
ramme of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCG
P) have changed the amount and type of continuing medical education (C
ME) done by the participating general practitioners. Method. A written
questionnaire was sent to 200 randomly selected general practitioners
doing the RNZCGP reaccreditation programme. Results. The response rat
e was 82%. Although almost half the general practitioners had been mot
ivated to spend more time on CME by the reaccreditation programme, for
most this was a small increase. However, there was a trend towards se
lection of higher quality courses and towards increasing the time spen
t on educational activities more likely to result in changed behaviour
. Conclusion. The RNZCGP reaccreditation programme is having beneficia
l effects on the CME activities of many of the participating general p
ractitioners.