The New Paradigm of Continuing Education in Surgery

Concerns regarding the shortcomings of traditional continuing medical education (CME) have led to widespread acceptance of the concept of continuous professional development (CPD). Continuous professional development focuses on the individual learning needs of physicians across the continuum of their professional careers and encompasses a broad range of educational activities. Continuous professional development activities of practicing surgeons should be integrated with the core competency of practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI), which involves a cycle of 4 steps-identifying areas for improvement, engaging in learning, applying new knowledge and skills to practice, and checking for improvement. The effectiveness of CPD and PBLI should be objectively evaluated by assessing their impact on surgeons' learning and performance and on patient care outcomes. A portfolio may be used to document CPD and PBLI activities and can serve as a valuable learning and assessment tool. It should contain information on the personal learning projects pursued by the surgeon. Continuous professional development of the entire surgical team and education of patients and their families need to be considered within the context of the surgeon's CPD efforts to positively affect patient care. Thus, a concept of global 360 degrees education should be embraced. Continuous professional development integrated with PBLI can help surgeons address their specific learning needs and play a pivotal role in surgeons' providing the best care to patients.