Emergency physicians perspectives of state continuing medical education requirements for medical licensure.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional survey (by design analogy, non-clinical)
PubMed 39385965 · doi:10.1002/emp2.13314
What was done
A cross-sectional survey designed by the Coalition of Board-Certified Emergency Physicians was distributed in February 2023 to 43,656 American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM)-certified physicians. The survey assessed time, cost, and perceived value of state-mandated, topic-specific continuing medical education (CME) in improving patient care using descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-square, and Fisher's exact tests.
What was found
Of 43,656 invited physicians, 5,562 responded (13.0% response rate) with 5,506 responses analyzed. Over half (53.0%) had over 15 years of post-residency experience, and 57.3% spent less than $5,000 annually on CME. Among physicians in states with topic-specific mandates, 83.6% believed ABEM continuing certification could reduce state-mandated CME needs, and 70.8% believed state-mandated topic-specific CME was unlikely to improve patient care.
Why it matters
The findings show widespread practitioner skepticism regarding state-mandated topic-specific CME, suggesting current requirements add burden without perceived clinical benefit and prompting calls to integrate specialty certification.
Limits
The survey had a low response rate (13.0%), creating substantial risk for non-response and self-selection bias. The findings reflect self-reported physician perceptions rather than objective measures of clinical competence or patient outcomes.
Cited by
- context California requires physicians to complete 12 hours of continuing medical education (CME) in palliative care to maintain their medical license.