Alliance for CME: William Campbell Felch/Wyeth Award for Research in CME

This year Alliance for Continuing Medical Education gave the William Campbell Felch/Wyeth Award for Research In CME to Dr. Price Kerfoot. The project “The Impact and Effectiveness of Interactive Spaced Education to Assess and Improve Knowledge of Clinical Guidelines” is an excellent example of research study design, testing if sound theoretical constructs and the innovative use of technology to influence physician learning and retention. I talked to Dr. Kerfoot about the project. Researchers and practitioners alike should find the description of the study and the use of technology informative.

Alliance for CME: Award for Most Outstanding Certified Enduring Material CME Activity

The Alliance for Continuing Medical Education has given its “Award for Most Outstanding Certified Enduring Material CME Activity” to PeerPoint Medical Education Institute, LLC. The award winning activity was titled “What’s Best for My Patient”. It is an online program designed to bring together physicians of different specialties to talk about their interpretation and use of current guidelines for the treatment of colon and rectal cancer. I talked to Dr.Gary Bird about the activity. If you have an interest in online CME activities, Interdisciplinary CME, or how to influence physician utilization of practice guidelines you may want to take a listen.

PI CME: The Unintended Outcome?

If you have been following this blog for a while you know I have a particular interest in “Performance Improvement CME”. Recently I have done several podcasts with CME professionals engaged in providing PI CME to their constituents. One striking outcome is being reported almost universally in these efforts. When physicians or groups of physicians engage in an effective PI CME initiative they not only make significant changes in their performance, they report they are learning a systematic approach to improvement they can replicate in other improvement efforts.

Not one of the CME providers I talked with indicated this was an outcome they intended. But to me this is an outcome as valuable as the intended performance changes in patient care. CME providers are teaching skills that are transferable to many different improvement interests. Perhaps we should consider physicians gaining this skill as an intended outcome of our PI CME efforts. It does mean we have to be very deliberate in teaching “improvement science” which may require some professional development of our own.

What do you think?

PI CME: The Wisconsin Experience

Listen to this conversation with Beth Mullikin, MS, Outreach Program Manager for the Office of Continuing Professional Development in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. If you are interested in PI CME I think you will find it very informative. Beth has a number of resources used to monitor PI CME initiatives and she is willing to share them. You can contact her at eamullikin@wisc.edu.

CS2Day PI CME and Handheld Projects

Interested in learning about four different approaches to PI CME in a smoking cessation initiative? How about a handheld project that prompts heath care providers on next steps to take in caring for the patient who smokes? Listen to my conversation with Dr. George Mejicano as he gives a description of these initiatives. He also describes some things in the outcomes evaluation that will be very instructive when choosing an approach to PI CME.

Jann Balmer on Challenges Facing the Field of CME

I have posted a podcast I did with Jann Balmer, PhD, President of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education and Director of CME at the University of Virginia School of Medicine discussing three critical issues facing the field of CME. The issues addressed are the “Value Proposition for CME”, “Health Care Costs” and a new set of “Skills Required for the Effective CME Professional”. Listen in you may find it informative.

Comments are always welcome.

Alliance for CME Award for Outstanding CME Collaboration

If you are involved in a collaborative CME project or are thinking about starting or joining one you may want to listen to a podcast I did with Dr. George Mejicano. We talk about a nine partner collaborative called CS2Day a major national effort focused in smoking cessation. If you have an interest in smoking cessation there is a wealth of information on the project web site that you can access and use in your own efforts.

My conversation with Dr. Mejicano is full of a lot of useful information for anyone considering working in collaborative educational initiatives. Take a listen.

Alliance Member Section Award: Medical Specalty Society

I contacted Kathleen Goldsmith at the American College of Surgeons and asked her to do a podcast sharing details about the program given a “Great Idea” award by the Medical Specialty Society Member Section of the Alliance for CME. She indicates this is not something they do at the ACS.

The title of the project recognized by the Section was” 2008 American College of Surgeons CME Primer”. It sounds like something those working with medical specialty societies might find helpful. if you’re interested maybe Kathleen can share information with you about the Primer and the ACS experience with the Primer in another way. Her e-mail address is: KGoldsmith@facs.org.

I hope we get a summary of the project in an upcoming edition of the ALMANAC.

Alliance for Continuing Medical Education Member Section Award” Medical Schools

Each year the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education recognizes outstanding work in our field. This year the award for a “Great Idea” selected by the Medical School Member Section went to the Jefferson Medical College. The program was titled “Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania”. Under the direction of Jeanne Cole, MS, Director of CME at the Jefferson Medial College and Alexis Skoufalos, EdD, Assistant Dean for Continuing Professional Education in the Jefferson School of Population Health and in collaboration with Baylor this project was effective in changing some significant practices in two Pennsylvania Community Hospitals.
I recorded a conversation with Jeanne and Alexis about the project. For those of you interested in finding ways to effectively link CME and improvement efforts you’ll want to hear about this project. Go to my podcast.

You can also find more information about the project by linking to a presentation made at the 2009 meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education. Click here.

There are several articles in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Medical Quality regarding the project.

Project Overview Article
Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania: Adapting a Large Academic System’s Quality Improvement Process to Rural Community Hospitals Ziad Haydar, Julie Gunderson, David J. Ballard, Alexis Skoufalos, Bettina Berman and David B. Nash American Journal of Medical Quality 2008; 23; 252. Available online at http://ajm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/252

Hazleton Article
Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania: The Hazleton General Hospital Experience Andrea Andrews and Anthony Valente American Journal of Medical Quality 2008; 23; 259. Available online at http://ajm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/259

Meadville Article
Meadville Medical Center’s Experience With the Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania Project: Lessons Learned and Future Directions Sarah J. Dickey and David E. McNamara American Journal of Medical Quality 2008; 23; 266. Available online at http://ajm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/266

Let me know what you think.