How has continuing medical education fared under instructional technology? For this reappraisal, the authors review the use of tapes, slides and film, in the medical profession in the U.S. and in the British Isles; radio and telephone, television, programed instruction, and computers (in their three-fold functions as retrievers of information, consultant in the diagnostic process, and instrument of instruction). Medical educators, the authors conclude, have embraced instructional technology with enormous enthusiasm, but have not done it systematically, seeming to have replaced their customary spirit of inquiry with a spirit of faith. They have neglected the process of diagnosing their needs, following it up with a specific prescription to correct the diagnosed defect, and a careful observation to determine whether the intervention has been effective. (Author/GO)