Continuing Medical Education for Primary Care Physicians in Israel: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 4

Comparison of the updating habits of the lower and upper third respondents (𝑁=255 versus 𝑁=288).

	JSPLL bottom third scores; (𝑁=288)				JSPLL upper third scores; (𝑁=255)				𝑃 value
	Mean	Std.	Median	N	Mean	Std.	Median	N
Reading update (1-not at all; 5-very much)
Professional textbooks	2.68	0.98	3	277	3.48	1.03	3	249	<0.0001
Hebrew journals	3.09	0.93	3	283	3.61	1.11	4	248	<0.0001
Foreign language journals	3.15	1.02	3	279	4.18	0.86	4	249	<0.0001
Pharmaceutical companies publications	2.63	0.97	3	277	2.82	1.1	3	240	0.039
Membership-based internet sites (exp. MD consult)	2.67	1.34	3	276	3.92	1.23	4	249	<0.0001
Nonmember-based internet sites (exp. medscape)	3.01	1.22	3	280	3.98	1.12	4	250	<0.0001
Self-learning CD	1.58	0.94	1	269	2.05	1.26	2	244	<0.0001
IMA guidelines	2.87	1.19	3	276	3.63	1.12	4	248	<0.0001
To what degree did you participate in the following updates during the past year (1-not at all; 5-very much)
CME courses (weekly meetings)	2.93	1.78	3	275	3.3	1.79	4	240	0.021
CME minicourses	2.22	1.41	1	257	2.89	1.62	3	239	<0.0001
Scientific conferences	3	1.23	3	275	4.18	1.04	5	248	<0.0001
Clinical meetings in the clinic	2.91	1.45	3	270	3.79	1.36	4	234	<0.0001
Clinical meetings in the hospital	1.92	1.27	1	251	2.9	1.67	3	232	<0.0001
Lectures at the hospital/clinic/university	2.58	1.33	3	264	3.72	1.35	4	244	<0.0001
Pharmaceutical companies sponsored meetings	3.13	1.21	3	279	3.34	1.28	3	250	0.052
Accompanying physician (working alongside a specialist consultant)	1.89	1.33	1	247	2.29	1.66	1	212	0.001
Evaluate the frequency you utilize the following data sources when encountering a diagnostic/treatment problem (1-not at all; 5-very much)
Books	3.23	1.16	3	278	3.54	1.2	4	251	0.002
Journals	2.9	1.09	3	275	3.9	1.09	4	251	<0.0001
Computerized database	3.92	1.1	4	277	4.74	0.61	5	253	<0.0001
Colleagues at the clinic	3.23	1.23	3	272	3.58	1.24	4	248	0.001
Consultation with a specialist	3.89	1.01	4	279	4.1	0.97	4	253	0.013
Sales representative of a pharmaceutical company	1.96	1.05	2	274	1.98	1.14	2	250	0.801
Circulation from the medical management of the HMO	2.67	1.15	3	276	2.94	1.19	3	245	0.01