Continuing professional development – global perspectives: synopsis of a workshop held during the International Association of Dental Research meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, 2003. Part 1: access, funding and participation patterns

There appears to have been little previous research interest in continuing professional development (CPD) of dentists and the oral health team. This paper presents data and information on the following aspects of CPD in 17 countries in Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America: availability of different types of CPD, its providers, data on uptake of CPD courses and activities, and funding of CPD. The results indicate that lectures and hands-on skills courses were held in all 17 countries but the use of the Internet to deliver CPD was by no means universal. CPD was funded from a variety of sources including universities, governments and commercial companies. However, the only universal source of funding for CPD was dentists themselves. Data on participation were available from only three countries. Research issues based on these results will be listed in a second paper.