BackgroundEducational meetings are widely used for continuing medical education. Previous reviews found that interactive workshops resulted in moderately large improvements in professional practice, whereas didactic sessions did not. ObjectivesTo assess the e ects of educational meetings on professional practice and healthcare outcomes. Search methodsWe updated previous searches by searching the Cochrane E ective Practice and Organisation of Care Group Trials Register and pending file, from 1999 to March 2006. Selection criteriaRandomised controlled trials of educational meetings that reported an objective measure of professional practice or healthcare outcomes. Data collection and analysisTwo authors independently extracted data and assessed study quality. Studies with a low or moderate risk of bias and that reported baseline data were included in the primary analysis. They were weighted according to the number of health professionals participating. For each comparison, we calculated the risk di erence (RD) for dichotomous outcomes, adjusted for baseline compliance; and for continuous outcomes the percentage change relative to the control group average a er the intervention, adjusted for baseline performance. Professional and patient outcomes were analysed separately. We considered 10 factors to explain heterogeneity of e ect estimates using weighted meta-regression supplemented by visual analysis of bubble and box plots.Continuing education meetings and workshops: e ects on professional practice and health care outcomes (Review)

Our data show some evidence that interactive CME sessions that enhance participant activity and provide the opportunity to practice skills can effect change in professional practice and, on occasion, health care outcomes. Based on a small number of well-conducted trials, didactic sessions do not appear to be effective in changing physician performance.

The results of this review suggest that when used alone and compared to no intervention, PEMs may have a small beneficial effect on professional practice outcomes. There is insufficient information to reliably estimate the effect of PEMs on patient outcomes, and clinical significance of the observed effect sizes is not known. The effectiveness of PEMs compared to other interventions, or of PEMs as part of a multifaceted intervention, is uncertain.

Physically demanding work may significantly increase a woman's risk of adverse pregnancy outcome.

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