ArticleBMJ open2021
Doctors' engagement with a formal system of continuing professional development in Ireland: a qualitative study in perceived benefits, barriers and potential improvements.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- [The German Surgery Congress from the perspective of young surgeons; expectations and barriers : Results of a nationwide online survey].Chirurgie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Health information managers' engagement in continuing professional development.Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia · 2026Article
- Maintenance of competence in rarely performed clinical skills by advanced life support providers in Gauteng, South Africa: A mixed-methods study.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- General Practitioner Engagement with Continuing Professional Development: A Scoping Review Protocol.Journal of CME · 2026Article
- Evaluating the effectiveness of continuing professional development training program: a retrospective cohort study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Physicians' perception towards continuing professional development in government teaching hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-mixed method design.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Barriers for continuous medical education: a cross-sectional questionnaire study among Danish GPs.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Stakeholder perceptions of and attitudes towards problematic polypharmacy and prescribing cascades: a qualitative study.Age and ageing · 2024Article
- An Overview of Continuing Medical Education/Continuing Professional Development Systems in Europe: A Mixed Methods Assessment.Journal of CME · 2024Article
- Stakeholder views on continuing professional development for doctors working in public primary care facilities in central Uganda: a qualitative study.The Pan African medical journal · 2024Article
- Self-reported preferences and barriers to continued professional development in primary care physicians: a cross-sectional web-based survey in Qatar.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- "We don't need no education" - a qualitative study of barriers to continuous medical education among Danish general practitioners.BMC medical education · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo examine experiences of participation in a mandatory system of continuing professional development (CPD) among doctors in Ireland, in order to identify areas for improvement.
designA qualitative cross-sectional design was used.
participants1408 participants (701 male, 707 female) were recruited via email from a population of 4350 doctors enrolled on a Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Professional Competence Scheme (PCS) for the 2017/2018 year, and completed an online survey as part of a larger study examining experiences and attitudes towards participation in PCS. A subset of the sample (434 participants) responded to an optional open-ended question about PCS participation. Responses to the open-ended question were analysed using thematic analysis.
resultsThematic analysis resulted in five main themes relating to perceived barriers to PCS participation across a wide range of areas: 'Evidence of participation', 'The structure of PCS', 'Questioning the benefits of formal CPD', 'Workplace challenges' and 'Access issues'.
conclusionsTaken together, the five themes outlined in this study give a wide-ranging, in-depth picture of the challenges faced by Irish doctors, which expand on well-documented factors such as time constraints, to illustrate a series of complex, interacting factors. Some barriers, such as difficulty obtaining evidence of participation, may be relatively easily addressed. Others, such as issues with the way the PCS is structured, are more intractable, and require further research to understand more fully and develop appropriate solutions.
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