Immediate evaluation of continuous medical education.

Objectives: To analyse the results of the immediate evaluation of an Europe an teaching session using a questionnaire provided by the French College of anaesthesiologists. Study design: Open evaluation. Material: Questionnaires completed after each topic by 50 participants of a n European course including 15 lectures were collected. Methods: The types of professional exercise and the medical practise reliab le to the different topics were pointed out. The evaluation included 4 item s noted from 1 to 10: new information for medical practise, definition of p edagogic objectives, quality of means used for teaching, interest for the t reated subject. The global mean score for each item and for each speaker wa s calculated. Results were compared according to the professional mode of e xercise, the own medical practise and the project to modify it in the futur e. Results: Scores affected to items were significantly lower for participants exercising in PSPH compared to general and university hospitals and privat e clinics (p < 0,001). New information was better found in case of poor or absence of practise, but interest was improved when medical practise was fr equent. 2/3 of the participants projected to modify their practise after th e session. Conclusion: The analysis of medical evaluation should allow to determine an acceptable zone of quality which may be useful for accreditation. However, distorting results according to the professional mode of exercise and the own medical practise should encourage the development of adapted continuous medical education. Delayed evaluation may be necessary to objective the pu tative benefits of CME on medical practise. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.