Background: We have explored continuing medical education among Norwegian dermatologists, especially their use of medical journals and the Internet.
Material and methods: In April 2001, a questionnaire was sent to 170 dermatologists, including junior doctors in specialist training. 129 questionnaires (76%) were returned, of which 16 were excluded from the analysis.
Results: Mean time used per week reading articles in medical journals was 149 minutes (95% confidence interval (CI) 129-168 minutes). 90% of the respondents had Internet access at work and/or at home. Hospital consultants used the Internet for medical purposes for significantly more time per week than doctors in private practice (146 minutes (CI 98-195 minutes) versus 72 minutes (CI 52-93 minutes)). More hospital doctors had difficulties in getting or taking time off to attend courses and congresses (p < 0.01) and with financial costs (p < 0.001) than those in private practice. Most dermatologists found the paper version of journals (88%) and courses and congresses (79%) to be important for their continuing medical education, while fewer found medical databases on the Internet (57%) and the Internet version of journals (35%) to be so. In a logistic regression model, fewer private practitioners than hospital doctors (p = 0.011) and more female than male doctors (p = 0.014) had a feeling of insufficiency in regard to the increasing amount of medical information.
Interpretation: The Internet has become part of the professional life of most Norwegian dermatologists, but has so far not replaced traditional forms of continuing medical education.