CME stands for Continuing Medical Education and is described by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) as “educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public or the profession.” Educational activities are typically referred to as CME activities if they have been accredited by ACCME. Accreditation is important because courses must be accredited for them to count towards meeting a medical professional’s state and medical board continuing education requirements.
Enduring materials give healthcare providers access to educational resources on their own schedules. They can include printed, electronic or audiovisual media.
Enduring materials may be derived from live CME activities. In such a case, ACCME considers the provider to have created two separate activities. Both must comply with all ACCME requirements, and the enduring material must comply with additional ACCME policies specific to enduring materials.
These activities come in various forms, including:
Enduring Materials (Online CME courses, webinars, question banks, DVDs, CD-ROMs, journals)
Live CME Activities (Courses and Conferences)
Online CME courses
Regularly Scheduled Series (Grand rounds, tumor boards, mortality conferences etc.)
Test Item Writing
Journals
Internet Searching and Learning
Performance Improvement Activities
External factors having an impact on work that’s being performed on a day-to-day basis in any industry poses major problems, but for it to happen so blatantly in medicine is a cause for major concern. Public perceptions and their knowledge of health and healthy practices stem from medical fraternity around the world. People trust their doctors to heal them, and any bias in this situation can prove to be deadly.
Why bite the hand that feeds?
The threat of costs spiraling out of control and prevention of access to life-changing education and information is very real. With a significant portion of the total income for medical schools coming from industry. Many of the courses on offer are also funded by this income and may have to be discontinued in the future if this source of income is curtailed. Even at events for continuing medical education fees for participation are often taken from external sources, while some speakers are also compensated for their presence and views, which may raise ethical concerns.
