The educational needs of GPs for health promotion in primary care

Abstract

AbstractThe Health Promotion Agency in Northern Ireland commissioned the Northern Ireland Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education to examine the health promotion education needs of general practitioners (GPs). The methodology for the study included an examination of a database to outline the patterns of provision, and uptake of, health promotion continuing medical education (CME), a questionnaire and a series of focus groups. It was clear that, although there is an ample supply of CME meetings in Northern Ireland, the least well provided and least well attended category was health promotion. While GPs suggested a variety of topics which they felt should be the subject of further meetings, many of them reported scepticism about the effectiveness of health promotion strategies and would require more information on the evidence for the effectiveness of health promotion and various patient interventions. Focus groups reported widespread dissatisfaction with the current PGEA system and many GPs c...