Recently, my colleague Sue Pelletier wrote an article for the July/August 2006 issue of Medical Meetings called “Think Bold: To Change Physician Behavior, You Need to Change Your CME.” The article was based on a workshop held earlier this year for continuing medical education professionals.
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Imagine you’re a college student cramming on the night before a big biology exam. You’ve missed some classes and need a tutor. So you call up the tutoring center and request a student to come help you. A tutor is at your door in an hour, but he’s a history major, not a biology major. He claims his area of expertise doesn’t matter since he knows how to teach. But you’re up against a tight deadline, and reluctant to take his word for it.
Now imagine you’re a doctor listening to a sales rep talk about a drug he doesn’t know much about. A 2005 Verispan poll of more than 5,000 physicians indicated that their top complaint was that reps don’t have enough clinical knowledge. A misconception: If reps can recite clinical information, it must mean they understood what they’re saying. Reps are given sales scripts that might contain correct information, including answers to common clinical questions, but many times doctors ask questions that reps cannot answer.
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