Changing and Learning in the Lives of Physicians

This book is based on a research project coordinated through the Society of Medical College Directors of Continuing Medical Education. The premise of the project was to understand how learning relates to change in order to better design education to facilitate change. The study involved 24 universities and systematically collected and analyzed 775 changes from 340 physicians. The results provide a vast array of useful techniques and resources for the continuing learner. The volume suggests that a qualitative approach to discovering variables of lifelong learning is more productive than the traditional quantitative and correlational approaches. It offers a framework for conceptualizing continuing education which it presents as a highly human, creative enterprise.

This volume identifies the attributes and dynamics of change and provides a theory which explains how change and learning are related under different conditions. The book begins with a description of an idea framework within which the study is placed. Subsequent chapters provide a detailed view of changes made. The changes are categorized according to the forces that drove the process. Learning is related to a specific cause and effect of changing. The volume concludes with the presentation of a model and a theory of how and why different types of changes occur.

ROBERT D. FOX is Professor of Higher Education and Research Associate in the Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education of the University of Oklahoma. His current research interests include adult development, learning, and motivation.

PAUL E. MAZMANIAN is Associate Professor of Preventative Medicine and Director of Continuing Education in Medicine and Allied Health at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University. The organization of continuing professional education, commitment to change, and contract learning are his current research interests.

R. WAYNE PUTNAM is Assistant Dean for Continuing Medical Education at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. His special interests are community hospital-based programs and evaluation of the effectiveness of education in the area of health promotion.