t is a generally accepted fact that physicians I must continually gain new knowledge or refresh and reorganize current knowledge to avoid professional obsolescence. And physicians, like other adult learners, employ a multitude of learning resources and learning behaviors as they go about this process of continuing learning. Our knowledge is limited regarding the learning motivations and the extent of learning efforts among physicians ( 1 ).How do physicians choose their learning? What do we know about naturally occurring learning patterns in physicians?The research described in this paper is an investigation o f the learning patterns and selfdirected learning efforts o f physicians. This exploratory-descriptive study uses an investigative interview approach that involves two populations of physicians. Specifically, it focuses on the major learning efforts of twenty-nine physicians who attempted to change themselves-to learn better o r new ways to do things, to gain new information and knowledge, to change their perceptions, behavior and/or performance. The physician interview was intended to elicit and review deliberate learning efforts of physicians. This does not include the complex variety of incidental factors that produce change in people without their intentional desire for learning. Only those learning efforts described as intentional, deliberate and planned were considered t o meet the classifications determined as major learning efforts in this study.Although actual learning behaviors were not directly observed as part of this investigation, learning patterns can be determined fiom physicians describing their own behavior. Through the use of a structured interview technique, physicians described their actions and preferences for acquiring knowledge, information and/or skills. In effect they described in their own words how they assessed, designed and carried out their continuing learning experiences.The physicians who participated in this study were general surgery and family practice physicians in private practice in one of five counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. The sample included sixteen general surgery physicians and thirteen family practice physicians.Physician participation was elicited from a letter of request 10 participate, mailed to a random sample o f general surgeons and family practitioners in the five counties mentioned.The interviews were conducted in the individual physician offices and ranged in length from fifty-five to ninety minutes. A major factor in determining the interview length related to the number of learning efforts each individual physician described.The purpose of this study was to explore the learning activities and learning patterns of two specialty groups of physicians. The learning proj ect concept was the identification mechanism for disclosing these learning patterns. Primarily the purpose was to describe and analyze the characteristics of' learning projects that physi cians participated in. Specifically selected variables in the self-directed learning ...

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