Community Hospital and Medical School Linkage

The community hospital has become a major site for the formal continuing education of physicians. In California, hospitals currently supply more than 40% of reported continuing medical education hours, and there is every likelihood this trend will be repeated across the country. These findings were recently reported in January 1977 by the Department of Continuing Education of the California Medical Association. Medical schools serve as important resources for these programs, supplying faculty lecturers or acting as speakers' bureaus. Occasionally, short-term residencies or fellowships at the medical school are provided for community hospital staff physicians.^1,2 These relationships have been limited, however, and many community hospitals do not have the resources or staff to organize educational activities effectively. There is rich potential for cooperative efforts to develop effective practice-related continuing education at the hospital site, with the medical school providing assistance with educational planning, including needs identification and evaluation, resources and