[Continuing medical education of general practitioners. A prospective study from the Aarhus county].

Introduction: Danish general practitioners' (GPs') participation in continuing medical education (CME) has often been the subject of debate, but actually very little is known about the extent and the contents of the activities.

Material And Methods: One hundred and sixty-one Danish GPs participated in this one-year prospective study by collecting data on their own CME activities.

Results: We received 9980 data registration sheets. Over a period of 8.4 months, an average Danish GP spent 67 hours on traditional CME, equivalent to about 96 hours per year, and 12 hours on small group-based CME per year, i.e. a total of 108 hours per year. In addition, he or she spent 90 hours per year reading books, journals, etc. Thus, the time spent on CME totalled more than 200 hours per year. Most of the CME courses were held outside surgery hours.

Discussion: We conclude that the GPs in Aarhus County participate in a large number of CME activities--even more than expected by their own organisation.