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.