Barriers for continuous medical education: a cross-sectional questionnaire study among Danish GPs

BACKGROUND: GPs' participation in continuous medical education (CME) is essential for patient care, GPs' wellbeing, and healthcare expenditure. However, one-quarter of Danish GPs did not use their reimbursement for CME in 2022. Knowledge of barriers for participating in CME is limited.

AIM: To analyse the barriers GPs face to participation in CME, and patterns in perceived barriers.

DESIGN & SETTING: A cross-sectional questionnaire study design was used. The study population comprised all 3257 GPs in Denmark who, in May 2023, were registered as entitled to reimbursement for CME.

METHOD: The response rate was n = 1303/3257 (40%). Based on a question about use of CME, the responders were divided into 'frequent', 'partial', and 'seldom' users. Partial and seldom users answered questions about barriers related to CME ( n = 726). The presence of barriers was quantified, and a latent class analysis (LCA) was used to stratify GPs according to their barrier patterns.

RESULTS: The most frequent barriers were as follows: too busy (67%); fully booked courses (45%); and no substitute or locum doctor (39%). Based on the LCA, we found three distinctive patterns, clustering around the following: GPs from clinics with no tradition for CME (class 1, 17%); GPs who used time on professional work outside clinic (teaching, organisational work) (class 2, 43%); and GPs who were personally or professionally affected (class 3, 40%). Singled-handed and male GPs were slightly overrepresented among seldom users.

CONCLUSION: We have identified barriers for CME. We found three different profiles of GPs who perceived different patterns of barriers. Identified patterns in barriers should be considered in future CME initiatives.