General practitioners' preferences for future continuous professional development: evidence from a Danish discrete choice experiment

Background and objectives Danish general practitioners (GPs) follow a voluntary continuous professional development (CPD) programme based on accredited activities. Inspired by a current interest in CPD, this study investigates GPs' preferences for future CPD programmes. Methods The preferences were tested in a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) sent to 1079 randomly chosen GPs. The GPs were asked to choose between hypothetical CPD programmes, based on educational questions generated from discussions with educational stakeholders. Results The response rate was 686/1079 (63%). GPs had the following preferences for a future CPD programme: 1) option to exchange experience with colleagues, 2) focus on implementation of new knowledge into practice, 3) ensure 10 days of CPD activities per year, 4) to have CPD programmes where 50% are planned by a central organisation and 50% are planned by the individual GP, 5) to have teachers with a profound insight and knowledge about general practice. There was neither an overall request for appraisal, nor for more CPD activities based on interactive learning strategies. There was, however, variability in GPs' preferences regarding some of the elements. Conclusion A prioritised list of Danish GPs' preferences for future CPD has been identified. However, variation in preferences suggests there should be room for individual variation.