Just caught a link to this NYT article on CME Linkages and thought, boy do these docs need CME: Disparities: Study Finds Risk in Off-Label Prescribing. Basically, the study said that the docs surveyed only knew the correct status of about half the drugs they were asked about. Here's the scariest snippet:
Confusion was greatest with psychiatric drugs, the survey of some 600 doctors found. Nearly one in five who prescribed Seroquel (quetiapine) in the previous year thought it was approved for patients with dementia and agitation, even though it was never approved for this use and even carried a “black box” warning that it was dangerous for elderly patients with dementia. And one in three doctors who used lorazepam (often marketed as Ativan) to treat chronic anxiety thought it had been approved for this use; in fact, the F.D.A. warning advises against using it for this purpose.
So I have to ask, where are they getting their information? It sure isn't from accredited CME.
