Edhayan Assignment


The article from Chest, is an attempt at a review on what makes CME effective. They looked at papers that studied student characteristics and CME characteristics that made for effective CME.

 

13 studies examined internal characters such as age, sex, race, practice setting, US vs. Non US, practice setting etc. There was no difference in CME effectiveness on these parameters. They all found CME activity to be of no importance in changing behavior.

 

6 studies looked at external factors including, regulatory bodies, hospital and local regulations and board requirements. None of these parameters were found to be related to change in physician behavior.

 

My view of CME is that it is often treated as a requirement and something that is needed to maintain a licence. When physicians come up with a true problem that demands a change in behavior they usually deal with it in a non-CME setting. For example, physicians look up new guidelines, or research a recent article on medline. They do not get CME activity but this activity is the most relevent in changing behavior.

 

The amount of new material learnt to influence change in behavior form a conference is similarly minuscule. I recently got a certificate for 14 hours of CME activity from the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Surgeons and learnt something of use in only 1 hour of those sessions. It is impossible to direct CME activity to be narrowly focused to the individual while appealing to the broader audience to make it financially viable to host a conference.

 

The fact that CME activity is usually held at comfortable resorts and not at the centers of learning such as our universities speaks to my point about CME activity being mainly recreational than educational. When physicans meet challenges they are smart enough to figure out where to obtain the information.

 

The one benefit of CME activity is the learner can know what he/she does not know. I personally think that hourly CME requirement for licensure should be abandoned for demonstration of competency in setting that reflects the physicians practice. How this can be structured is something that I do not know.