Educationally influential physicians: the need for construct validation.

Full Abstract

INTRODUCTION:
Educationally influential physicians may be a valuable resource in continuing medical education. Although the idea driving this research--informal learning--converges with research in adult education, organizational learning, marketing, and knowledge diffusion, the results of interventions have proven inconclusive. To actualize the promise of the educationally influential physician (EIP) construct, it is argued that researchers must return to the "classic" studies in this area and resume the process of validating the meaning of the construct.

METHODS:
A literature review and the occasion of an educationally influential physician identification survey provided an opportunity to contribute to development of this construct. We compared three identification rules used to study 212 physicians.

RESULTS:
Each rule may identify different people as EIPs.

DISCUSSION:
To improve the use of educational influentials, research must be completed to validate their role in informal learning.

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Author information

Author/s: Ryan, David Patrick (DP); Marlow, Bernard (B); Fisher, Rory (R);

Affiliation: Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto, Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Room H475, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review

Journal: The Journal of continuing education in the health professions (J Contin Educ Health Prof), published in Canada. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-; vol 22 (issue 3) : pp 160-9

Dates: Created 2002/09/13; Completed 2002/10/02; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12227238, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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