Pediatricians’ Preferences for Live or Online Continuing Medical Education: Does Age Really Matter?

Haftel, Hilary¹; Samuel, Deborah¹; Gottschlich, Elizabeth A.¹; Sisk, Blake¹

¹American Academy of Pediatrics, Itasca, IL, United States.

Presented at the 2019 Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting.

Background: Participation in Continuing Medical Education (CME) is a fundamental way for pediatricians to sustain and increase their medical knowledge and clinical skills and is required for continuing licensure and maintenance of board certification. We have previously shown that similar numbers of pediatricians prefer live to online CME courses while slightly more pediatricians prefer both equally. Conventional wisdom has held that learning preferences tend to be generational; more senior practitioners prefer live/face-to-face CME opportunities while younger pediatricians prefer to receive their CME online, but this has not been formally studied in Pediatric CME.

Objective: To study pediatrician preferences for and barriers to CME opportunities across the age spectrum.

Methods: Data were collected from a nationally representative sample of US non-retired American Academy of Pediatrics members in 2017 through the Periodic Survey of Fellows (n=668; response rate=47%). Residents were excluded from analysis. The survey collected information on respondents’ CME format preferences and perceived barriers to participation. Chi square analyses were conducted to measure differences between cohorts grouped by age.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in CME preference (live, online, equal preference) between any of the age groups studied. Pediatricians in the 40-49 year age group were statistically less likely to have participated in live CME activities rather than online CME compared to other age group peers. This age group also reported that family commitments were a significant barrier to live CME participation. Cost was also a barrier to participation, with younger pediatricians more likely to have had their institution or practice pay for their CME activities rather than have paid out of pocket.

Conclusion: Pediatricians enjoy participating in both live and online CME activities and there is no difference in preference by age. Barriers to participation occur in all age groups, but barriers due to family commitments appear to be most significant in some age groups over others. To facilitate participation, CME activities can be tailored to meet the needs to all pediatricians, regardless of age.