Doctors' attitudes to maintenance of professional competence: A scoping review

Abstract

Context Recent decades have seen the international implementation of programmes aimed at assuring the continuing competence of doctors. Maintenance of Professional Competence (MPC) programmes aim to encourage doctors' lifelong learning and ensure high‐quality, safe patient care; however, programme requirements can be perceived as bureaucratic and irrelevant to practice, leading to disengagement. Doctors' attitudes and beliefs about MPC are critical to translating regulatory requirements into committed and effective lifelong learning. We aimed to summarise knowledge about doctors' attitudes to MPC to inform the development of MPC programmes and identify under‐researched areas. Methods We undertook a scoping review following Arksey and O'Malley, including sources of evidence about doctors' attitudes to MPC in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, and using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) as a guide. Results One hundred and twenty‐five sources of evidence were included in the review. One hundred and two were peer‐reviewed publications, and 23 were reports. Most were from the United Kingdom or the United States and used quantitative or mixed methods. There was agreement across jurisdictions that MPC is a good idea in theory but doubt that it achieves its objectives in practice. Attitudes to the processes of MPC, and their impact on learning and practice were mixed. The lack of connection between MPC and practice was a recurrent theme. Barriers to participation were lack of time and resources, complexity of the requirements and a lack of flexibility in addressing doctors' personal and professional circumstances. Conclusions Overall, the picture that emerged is that doctors are supportive of the concept of MPC but have mixed views on its processes. We highlight implications for research and practice arising from these findings.

Using eHealth Data to Inform CPD for Medical Practitioners: A Scoping Review with a Consultation Exercise with International Experts

“…45,46 In more recent years, published studies explore instead medical practitioners' attitudes toward and engagement with eHealth data 47,52 or shed light on those systemic and cultural factors that influence the use of this type of data for CPD purposes. 48,51 Such topic evolution does not represent a novelty because it seems to be very much in line with the latest literature on predictive learning analytics, 53 doctor's attitudes toward CPD, 54,55 innovative life-long learning theoretical models, 56 and CPD strategic development approaches. 57 Nonetheless, its identification fills a research gap and can serve as a basis for further investigation in the field of PAH.…”

Cognitive perspectives on maintaining physicians’ medical expertise: I. Reimagining Maintenance of Certification to promote lifelong learning

“…The bulk of this paper so far has focused on the basic science of learning and the affordances of longitudinal assessment for learning. However, over the course of a physician’s career, they engage in multiple different forms of lifelong learning (see Wiese et al, 2022 , for a review). All physicians continue to learn through continuing medical education (CME) and through personal experience with patients.…”

Recasting Assessment in Continuing Professional Development as a Person-Focused Activity

“…The paradox in CPD is that although much CPD and its related assessment activity is designed by and required to serve employers, regulators, and professional associations, only the person can produce and enact their own practice of ongoing education and development. 57 Thus, it is not sufficient for CPD assessment to solely meet external expert (eg, employers, regulators, professional associations, etc.) and/or societal requirements decoupled from what it means for the person.…”