Does formal approval of educational courses guarantee quality?

Objectives To assess whether organizers of continuing medical education for general practitioners used principles of adult learning when designing the ir meetings. Design A questionnaire study of organizers of approved educational meetings for general medical practitioners (GPs). Setting South East Scotland Subjects Organizers of educational meetings. Results Organizers often failed to use principles of adult learning in the construction of their meetings. Organizers with prior training in medical e ducation were, however, significantly more likely to adopt these principles . Conclusions Given concern about the quality of educational meetings as asse ssed by their educational impact, formal approval is not an indicator of qu ality. Postgraduate bodies should use explicit criteria both in the develop ment and approval of continuing educational meetings.