The educationally influential physician

The existence of physicians who were educationally influential to their peers was confirmed by a series of studies in the 1960s. Methodology to facilitate their identification led to several studies that confirmed their role in the dissemination of information. It was originally thought that the educationally influential physician had its greatest use in continuing medical education. The changes in undergraduate and graduate medical education curriculum now suggest that the educationally influential physician may be operational across the continuum of medical education. The use of small group discussions and reliance on community-based practitioners demands that the concepts of information dissemination be integrated into curricula for medical students and house officers. Depending on location, specialties, practice type, and learning style, different approaches to information dissemination are possible. As educators strive to incorporate the concepts of evidence-based medicine and lifelong learning into the curriculum, they need to make students aware of the resources that are available to facilitate their learning.