Educational factors associated with clinician knowledge about bacterial endocarditis

This study measured the impact of relatively formal educational experiences (general practice residency and continuing education) and a variety of informal educational opportunities (professional membership activities, dental journals received, patterns of consulting and referral) on a particular body of knowledge (dentists' knowledge about the management of patients at risk for bacterial endocarditis). Data were collected through telephone interviews with 217 dental general practitioners in New York State. Linear regression analyses indicated that age made a significant contribution to the explanation of knowledge level in all models tested. Neither general practice residency experiences nor continuing education exposure in the past year made a significant contribution to the explanation of knowledge. The other more informal educational variables tested sometimes made a significant contribution when controlled for age; however, the explanatory power of these variables often varied according to respondents' locale (urban vs. rural).