Assessment of the feasibility of distance medical education in Chile

Background: Continuing medical education is essential to cope with the accelerated evolution of medical knowledge. Aim: To assess the feasibility of a distance medical education program prepared in a written format. Subjects and methods: Ninety physicians, aged 25 to 29 years old and with 1 to 4 years of medical practice, working mostly in rural locations, participated in the program. The sending of 10 issues with medical topics was programmed. The topics were selected according to the results of an survey done among physicians of the region. Each tissue contained an evaluation that had to be returned to the authors. Results: Eighty two physicians completed the program and 59 returned the evaluations. The mean obtained score in the cognitive evaluation was 80 +/- 6 points (range 68 to 97 points) of a scale from 0 to 100. The qualitative survey revealed a high degree of approval of the issue's format, contents and evaluation system. The favorable effect on patient's management and on the detection and control of chronic diseases was emphasized. Conclusions: This distance medical education program had a good receipt and compliance among physicians and contributed to continuing medical training.