This monograph, organized in two major parts, covers the role of educational needs assessment in adult education and its role in continuing medical education (CME). The first part discusses the concept of educational need and its relationship to classic program planning models and naturalistic program planning. It then covers various assessment approaches and data gathering methods with criteria for model selection. A discussion of the role of needs assessment in guiding the program planning process concludes this first part. The second part presents definitions and the purpose of CME followed by definitions of competence. It then discusses program planning models and approaches to needs assessment in CME. (EM)