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In 2021, UpToDate began offering continuing medical education (CME) planned and delivered by patients. The patient-authored medical topic reviews focus on lessons learned from interactions with the healthcare system and emphasise quality of life for those living with specific conditions. Having access to the patient voice at the point of care provides clinicians with a perspective that can improve patient-provider communication and promote shared decision-making. Participants who viewed the patient-authored topics were emailed a survey about the content; several responses indicated that the new topics were useful in clinical practice. While positive responses demonstrate that clinicians value the patient perspective, we also received replies from participants and from the patient authors themselves indicating there is more work to be done in developing patient-led CME. As more patients are invited to join the conversation, their expertise will be increasingly recognised as integral to CME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuing medical education is essential to maintain and develop the skills of the healthcare workforce. Engagement with CME is required for maintaining practitioner licence in the United Arab Emirates. The CME environment in Abu Dhabi has been growing quickly, with rising numbers of activities and learner participation. Though Abu Dhabi's Department of Health(DOH) has a history of regulating CME for its health professionals, it has typically relied on activity audits that have been inefficient and laborious. Consequently, the DOH evaluated and subsequently adopted international standards for provider accreditation and implemented a new model. That system incorporates eligibility standards, a digital system of registration, standards for ensuring learners are protected from advertising and promotion, expectations for educational outcomes, attendance verification, and program evaluation. DOH introduces an accreditation statement, set standards for activity documentation, data protection, and published a limited range of international systems whose credits could be recognized by DOH. Embedded in the new accreditation system is a restructured internal workforce, trained and supported to ensure accurate, consistent, and transparent accreditation decisions. DOH has supported implementation through a revised website, community meetings, provider training, and provider support services. DOH anticipates continuing evolution to support a culture of learning and competency management of the healthcare professionals in its workforce through CME, and in doing so support the delivery of high-quality healthcare to its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to maximise the learning potential of medical education programmes aimed at interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary teams, it is important to understand how the effectiveness of these programmes can vary between healthcare professionals from different specialities. Measuring the impact of educational activities between specialities may facilitate the development of future interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary education programmes, yielding enhanced learner outcomes and, ultimately, improving outcomes for patients. In this analysis, we report on a new approach to measuring change in knowledge and competence among learners from different physician specialities. We did this by tailoring post-activity competency assessments to three specialities – primary care physicians, pulmonologists and immunologists caring for patients with severe asthma. Our findings revealed that primary care physicians had markedly improved knowledge, measured using assessment questions, compared with the other specialities after completing the activity. We also report on differences between these specialities in intention to change clinical practice, confidence in clinical practice, and remaining educational gaps. Understanding how different members of the interdisciplinary team have benefited from an educational activity is essential for designing future educational activities and targeting resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In data analyses, pairing participant responses is often thought to yield the purest results. However, ensuring all participants answer all questions can be challenging. Concerns exist that pooling all responses together may diminish the robustness of a statistical analysis, but the practical insights may still exist. Data from a live, in-person, continuing education series for health professionals was analysed. For each topic, identical questions were asked prior to the educational content (pre), immediately following the content (post), and on a rolling 4 to 6 week follow-up survey (follow-up). For each educational topic, responses were matched by participant for a paired analysis and aggregated for a pooled analysis. A paired analysis was done for matched responses on pre vs post and pre vs follow-up questions. A pooled analysis was done for the aggregate responses on pre vs post and pre vs follow-up questions. Responses from 55 questions were included in the analysis. In both the paired and pooled pre vs post analyses, all questions yielded a statistically significant improvement in correct responses. In the paired pre vs follow-up analysis, 59% (n = 33) of questions demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in correct responses, compared to 62% (n = 35) in the pooled pre vs follow-up analysis. Paired and pooled data yielded similar results at the immediate post-content and follow-up time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reiterates the importance of the role of multisource feedback (MSF) in continuing medical education/continuing professional development (CME/CPD) and its impact on doctors' performance and patient experience globally. It summarises a unique initiative of robust utilisation of internationally recognised multisource feedback tools in an outpatient child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) in Qatar. The process involved the effective adoption and administering of the General Medical Council's (GMC) self-assessment questionnaire (SQ), patient questionnaire (PQ), and colleague questionnaire (CQ) followed by the successful incorporation of these tools in CME/CPD. The original version of the PQ questionnaire and the instructions to the patient document were translated into Arabic through the blind back-translation technique. This initiative of introducing gold-standard MSF tools and processes into clinical practice, among other quality-improvement projects, has contributed to the improvement of service standards and doctors' clinical practice. Patient satisfaction was measured through the annual patient experience analysis using the Experience of Service Questionnaire (ESQ) whereas changes in doctors' performance were evaluated by comparing annual appraisal scores before and after implementation of this initiative. We have demonstrated that when MSF is obtained impartially and transparently using recognised and valid tools, it can improve patient experience and enhance doctors' performance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the evaluation of a continuing education program for primary care advanced practice providers. The focus of the evaluation is on statistical significance and sample size, but the authors argue that statistical significance alone is not enough to determine the impact of educational activities. They suggest that effect size should also be reported. The article also highlights the importance of pre- and post-assessment questions in promoting active learning, assessing the impact of the intervention, understanding learners' stages of behavior change, and identifying what works in education. The authors raise concerns about the limitations of pooled analysis and the need for a more comprehensive evaluation of educational programs. [Extracted from the article]

Net promoter Score (NPS) has been used in many fields, such as software, clinical care, and websites, as a measure of customer satisfaction since 2003. With a single question, NPS methodology is thought to determine brand loyalty and intent to act based on experiences with the brand or product. In the current study, accredited continuing medical education or continuing education (CME/CE) was the product. Providers of CME have utilised NPS rating (the individual score on a scale of 0 to 10) to collect data about the value of the experience a clinician has with CME activities, but there has been no research to examine what it actually is associated with. This study looked to understand – relative to other self-reported and assessment outcomes in CME, what does NPS at the activity level indicate? From 155 online CME programmes (29,696 target audience learners with complete data), potential outcomes of CME, including whether knowledge or competence improved via assessment score, mean post-confidence rating, and whether one intended practices changes and was committed to those changes, were examined as predictors of NPS. NPS is unique in that it cannot be calculated at the individual level; individual scores must be aggregated, and then the percentage who selected ratings of 0 to 5 is subtracted from the percentage who selected 9 or 10. Results showed that percentage of learners who are committed to change predicts 70% of the variance in NPS, which suggests NPS is a valid indicator of intention to act. These results have implications for how we might, as a field, incorporate the utilisation of a single standardised question to examine the potential impact of online CME and call for additional research on whether NPS predicts change in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare professionals need to maintain their knowledge and skills to deliver the best possible care to patients. Medical societies play an important role as providers of continuing medical education (CME) and have actively continued this role during the COVID-19 pandemic adapting the delivery of education to virtual meetings and courses. The Biomedical Alliance in Europe CME Experts Committee conducted two surveys to collect information on the delivery of CME, generally, and during the COVID-19 pandemic from the member medical societies. In this article, we will present the most relevant data collected and share some reflections based on this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left many ex-republics in a financial and administrative crisis for the ensuing two decades. Previously centralised processes like recertification of doctors and healthcare workers and continuing medical education fell by the wayside. Continuing medical education and continuing professional development in Armenia have evolved through multiple phases from Soviet, to immediate, mid and late-transitional post-Soviet periods, to current modernising efforts. This manuscript describes the phases of evolution of continuing medical education chronologically and details the legislative and regulatory framework surrounding each stage of development. Armenia is currently implementing a credit system of continuing medical education with the aim to introduce and adopt new and efficient approaches in this field. Continuing education credits fall into three categories: didactic or theoretical knowledge, practical skills and self-education/self-development. To recertify, professionals must collect credits from all three groups with specified minimum amounts according to their degrees. Armenia's guiding principle is to harmonise the continuing medical education and professional development model with internationally accepted criteria in order to contribute to the international mobility of healthcare workers and to provide for true on-going professional development and knowledge that will benefit our doctors, nurses and above all our patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disease Management Programmes (DMPs) have been introduced by German Federal Government in 2002 to improve long-term care for patients with specific chronic diseases. Digitisation has been a requirement to reliably document patient data in DMPs. This report presents data from six DMPs in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It demonstrates that high level long-term quality of care can be achieved and maintained. But beyond clinical purposes DMP data are also an invaluable source to supply content in CME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, keeping up with the fast evolving evidence is more challenging than ever for practising physicians. A huge number of studies are published every day, and it is no longer possible to read all the relevant individual studies. Many physicians prefer attending continuing medical education (CME) to reading international scientific publications. Consequently, it is critical that CME is based on the best available evidence and presented in an unbiased manner free of conflicts of interest. Systematic reviews and Cochrane reviews in particular can thus provide a valuable resource of up-to-date and high-quality information on health care questions for CME providers. Of note, systematic reviews might become outdated quickly. Furthermore, some systematic reviews are fraught with limitations such as poor methodology and conduct or incomplete and misleading reporting. This article provides a brief overview of systematic reviews and Cochrane reviews, outlines how systematic reviews can be "kept alive" using today's digital opportunities and points to several common problems of systematic reviews with suggestions for solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perimenopausal symptoms adversely impacting women's sexual health are often unacknowledged or even dismissed by healthcare professionals (HCP). Using semi-structured interviews with 23 women experiencing perimenopause, we aimed to understand how HCPs address women's sexual health needs and concerns during this transition. Thematic data analysis was employed with the reduction of data into themes. Several major themes were identified concerning participants' experiences with a HCP and sexual health, including insufficient sexual health information and preventative education; the lack of open discussion about sexual health; the need for enhanced support and treatment options; feeling dismissed by a healthcare professional; and sexual pleasure not addressed by healthcare professionals. Additionally, women expressed concerns regarding medical education and training in healthcare professionals on approaching sexual health conversations. There appears to be a need for more formal training, both within medical school and continuing medical education (CME), to address these important aspects of women's sexual and reproductive health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines disagreements among three giants of twentieth-century American neurology: Raymond Adams, Joseph Foley, and Abraham Baker. The disagreements Adams and Foley had with Baker concerned two issues: (1) the neurologic and neuropathological manifestations of liver failure with hepatic encephalopathy as expounded from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, and (2) the founding of the American Academy of Neurology in 1948 as an inclusive medical society under the principal leadership of Baker. The conflicts are examined from transcribed meeting debates (1949–1963), salient original publications (1949–1963), public addresses of protagonists touching on these issues (1971, 1984), and oral histories and less formal interviews of the protagonists and their associates (1979–2014). Contributing to these conflicts were contrasting personalities and outlooks on American neurology in the mid-twentieth century. Adams and Foley prevailed with their characterization of the neurologic and neuropathologic features of liver failure, whereas Baker triumphed with the need for and importance of an inclusive neurological society that would develop continuing medical education for neurologists at a national level, garner federal financial support for neurology training programs, and facilitate the development of neurology as a strong, independent medical discipline in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Academy for Continuing Professional Development Accreditation (IACPDA) is dedicated to advocating for and enhancing the development, implementation and evolution of continuing medical education (CME)/continuing professional development (CPD) accreditation systems throughout the world by providing an opportunity for individuals in leadership positions to (a) learn about the values, principles and metrics of varying CME/CPD accreditation systems; (b) explore the accreditation standards for CME/CPD provider organisations and activities under differing systems; and (c) foster evaluations to measure the impact of CME/CPD accreditation systems on physician learning, competence, performance, and healthcare outcomes. IACPDA has developed a shared set of international standards to guide the accreditation of CME/CPD for medical doctors and healthcare teams globally, which have been adopted in the Cologne Consensus Conference on 10 September 2020. These standards will also be used to determine substantive equivalency between accrediting bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study determined the effects of online continuing medical education (CME) on the clinical competency, performance, and patient outcomes of physicians and other healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the topics of COVID-19 and back pain. Survey studies on six online CME activities were conducted from April 2020 to February 2021 at a South Korean hospital. Surveys were conducted immediately after and three months after the CME activity to measure the effectiveness of the CME activity regarding professional competence and performance, as well as patient outcomes. A total of 624 individuals participated in the six CME activities. Of the 2007 post-activity responses, a total of 1135 out of 1332 (85.21%) participants indicated that they were satisfied with the online education activities, and a total of 1752 out of 2007 (87.29%) participants responded that the content would influence their clinical practice. Upon a three-month follow-up, 477 out of 611 (78.07%) respondents indicated that they had made actual changes to their clinical practice. The online delivery method is effective for delivering CME. The results suggest that online CME ultimately influences physicians' clinical competency and performance, which leads to enforcing change in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic created an environment where the majority of continuing medical education (CME) and continuing professional development (CPD) activities needed to be delivered digitally. Producing digital materials for 16 separate learning activities (four learning journeys for each of four topic areas) in 2021 provided challenges and raised points of interest and discussion for a small, Italy-based provider of CME and CPD. This study presents outcome metrics from four live, interactive webinars. A variety of promotional efforts, including the strategic use of social media, generated interest and participation; feedback from the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education standard questionnaire to participants provided rates of satisfaction; subject knowledge and self-reported competence was measured by responses to pre- and post-event and follow-up (after 3 months) questionnaires. Post-event analysis of processes prompted introspection on the learning journey outcomes and methods of analysis. This paper discusses these observations, including potential innovations for future activities (e.g. reconfiguring the e-learning platform to capture time spent on learning activities), and also discusses issues in learner behaviour that impact CME provision and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Industry funding in continuing medical education has been extensively studied in the USA. Although continuing medical education is also a requirement for Chinese physicians, little is known about Chinese physician perceptions of industry support in continuing medical education. Objective: We aim to determine perceptions regarding industry support for CME among Chinese physicians at a large CME course, examine potential associations between Chinese physicians' perceptions and their demographic characteristics, and compare Chinese and US physicians' perceptions of industry support for CME. Design: We performed a cross-sectional survey of physicians at a nephrology continuing medical education conference in China. All participants received a previously published, anonymous survey consisting of 4 items, with questions asked in English and Mandarin Chinese. Responses were compared with those of a previous cohort in the USA. Results: The response rate was 24% (128/541). Most respondents were nephrologists (112/126, 89%), women (91/128, 71%), and aged 20 to 40 years (79/127, 62%). Most respondents preferred industry-supported continuing medical education (84/123, 68%) or had no preference (33/123, 27%). More clinicians than clinical researchers supported industry offsetting costs (76.9% vs 58.3%; P =.03). Almost half of participants (58/125, 46%) stated that industry-supported continuing medical education was biased in support of industry. Compared with US physicians, Chinese physicians were more likely to believe, or had no opinion, that industry-supported courses were biased (67.2% vs 47.0%; P <.001). Conclusions: Chinese continuing medical education participants preferred industry-sponsored continuing medical education and were strongly in favor of industry offsetting costs, but almost half believed that such education was biased in favor of supporting companies. Concern for bias was higher among Chinese than US physicians. Given participants' concerns, further study examining industry bias in Chinese continuing medical education is recommended. Abbreviations: CME: Continuing medical education; US: USA [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the existing process of Continuing Medical Education (CME) was decimated. The Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) was able to leverage competitive educational fellowship programmes in existence, and harness new knowledge gained by returning fellows thus amplifying the impact on education and patient care in the regions of the republic of Armenia. This manuscript describes a replicable novel amplification programme using a "train the trainer" model for CME in the republic of Armenia. We sought to identify challenges specific to physicians from the regions, and to examine the strengths of the CME programme that can serve as a model for programme development and improvement in countries facing similar challenges. The manuscript details a descriptive and mixed method study that includes in-depth interviews and focus group discussions from 2015–2016. Conceptual content analysis was used to identify major themes from the transcripts. Challenges facing regional physicians in post-Soviet counties in transition, exemplified by Armenia, are profound. Exploration of themes related to perceived barriers to care in the regions included, physicians' personal financial constraints, lack of up-to-date knowledge and equipment, lack of confidence, fear of criticism and of making incorrect diagnoses. The FAR/CME programme presents an innovative way to amplify the knowledge of Armenian physicians upon their return from educational programme participation abroad in order to address challenges facing regional physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the evolution of Continuing Medical Education (CME) into Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Competency Based Continuing Professional Development (CBCPD). It highlights the shift from a teacher-centric approach to a more holistic focus on healthcare professionals' lifelong learning needs and the importance of active and practice-based learning. The article also emphasizes the need for objective measures of improved clinical performance and quality of care improvement in CPD. Additionally, it explores the concept of Systems CPD, which promotes interprofessional and multi-professional teamwork and recognizes the importance of diverse stakeholders in the field. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for CPD educators to expand their skills and collaborate with professionals from various disciplines to enhance the effectiveness of CPD programs. [Extracted from the article]

Once considered a rare disease, eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) is becoming increasingly prevalent, yet many healthcare professionals (HCPs) remain unfamiliar with the underlying pathophysiology and optimal management approaches. For this study, we developed a faculty-led, online, continuing medical education activity on EoE. The effectiveness of this activity was evaluated according to Moore's framework, with changes in knowledge and competence (Moore's Levels 3 and 4) assessed for a cohort of gastroenterologists, dietitians, allergists and immunologists (N = 300), using questionnaires completed before and after participation. Changes in HCP confidence in treating EoE were also reported and remaining educational gaps were identified. The activity was viewed by a global audience of 5,330 participants within 6 months, and significant improvements in knowledge and competence were reported following participation in the activity across all specialities, regions and experience (mean [standard deviation] score pre- versus post-activity: 4.32 [1.38] versus 5.46 [0.82]; p < 0.001). Confidence in treating EoE also increased from pre- to post-activity, with the proportion of participants reporting that they felt moderately or extremely confident increasing from 53% to 82%. Several educational unmet needs were identified, which can be used to inform the design of future educational activities in EoE [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeMethodResultsConclusionsIncorporating social determinants of health (SDH) into medical education is crucial. However, there are limited data on standard education models and comprehensive SDH curricula in Taiwan are insufficient. This study presents a systematic SDH curriculum instructed primarily by social workers for postgraduate doctors and aims to examine the training outcomes of the innovative curriculum.This study assessed training outcomes using Kirkpatrick model levels 1 and 2 regarding trainees’ satisfaction and improvement of their knowledge and skills in written and standardized patient (SP) pre- and posttests conducted between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022.A total of 28 trainees completed the training. The trainees’ overall satisfaction score regarding the curriculum was high (4.6 out of 5). The median pretest scores for the written and SP tests were 66.25 ± 14.38 and 14.50 ± 5.13, respectively, whereas the median posttest scores were 80.00 ± 7.50 and 20.50 ± 6.13, respectively. Both written and SP posttest scores were significantly improved compared to the pretest scores (p < .001).The presented education model significantly improved postgraduate doctors’ SDH knowledge and biopsychosocial assessment skills, and received high satisfaction scores from the trainees. Adopting social workers as primary teachers may enhance interdisciplinary collaboration between social workers and trainee doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health systems have been increasingly called upon to address population health concerns and continuing medical education (CME) is an important means through which clinical practices can be improved. This manuscript elaborates on existing conceptual frameworks in order to support CME practitioners, funders, and policy makers to develop, implement, and evaluate CME vis-a-vis population health concerns. Existing CME conceptual models and conceptions of CME effectiveness require elaboration in order to meet goals of population health improvement. Frameworks for the design, implementation and evaluation of CME consistently reference population health, but do not adequately conceptualize it beyond the aggregation of individual patient health. As a pertinent example, opioid prescribing CME programs use the opioid epidemic to justify their programs, but evaluation approaches are inadequate for demonstrating population health impacts. CME programs that are built to have population health outcomes using frameworks intended primarily for physician performance and patient health outcomes are thus not able to recognize either non-linear associations or negative unintended consequences. This proposed conceptual framework draws on the fields of clinical population medicine, the social determinants of health, health equity, and philosophies of population health to build conceptual bridges between the CME outcome levels of physician performance and patient health to population health. The authors use their experience developing, delivering, and evaluating opioid prescribing- and poverty-focused CME programs to argue that population health-focused CME must be re-oriented in at least five ways. These include: 1) scaling effective CME programs while evaluating at population health levels; 2) (re)interpreting evidence for program content from a population perspective; 3) incorporating social determinants of health into clinically-oriented CME activities; 4) explicitly building fluency in population health concepts and practices among health care providers and CME planners; and 5) attending to social inequity in every aspect of CME programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women physicians are underrepresented in leadership positions across medical specialties. Understanding factors that improve women's promotion metrics may lead to career and leadership advancement. This study examined if a woman-centered Continuing Medical Education (CME) conference is associated with differences in productivity metrics toward career advancement. The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey study of women physicians attending a national woman-centered CME conference for professional growth, wellness and networking in September 2019. The survey measured promotion metrics achieved in the year prior to the conference and compared them with previous attendees. Of 425 women attendees of the conference, 389 (91.5%) respondents completed the survey. Respondents were divided into two groups for analysis: first time (FT) attendees, and those that attended the conference previously (PV). In the year preceding the survey, PV attendees were more likely to have published a manuscript as first-author or co-author in a peer-reviewed journal (17.5% vs. 9.7%, p = 0.029), given a talk in their area of practice (48.3% vs. 27.9%, p < 0.001) and to have mentored at least one peer (40.8% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.009) and to have asked for a promotion (15.8% vs. 8.6%, p = 0.033) than FT. As compared to first-time conference attendees, women physicians who previously attended a woman-centered CME conference were more likely to achieve career performance metrics including publications and speaking engagements in the preceding year. This study demonstrated a positive association of Women-centered CME conferences in career advancement metrics for women in medicine and suggests further studies on this and other women-centered CME conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imbalance of the health workforce between rural and urban has the most severe impact in low-income countries (LICs). Lack of professional development opportunities, such as Continuing Medical Education (CME), is one of the key elements in this disparity. This research first presents a revised Citizen-centric Capacity Development (CCD) framework that focuses on goaldriven ICT solution design and impact assessment. It then investigates how the CCD framework guides the design, development, and assessment of CMES (CME on a Stick), a low-cost, integrative platform for the delivery of CME content to rural health workers in LICs. The success of the CMES project highlights the significance of the CCD framework in creating design artifacts that are contextually relevant, broadly scalable, and technologically sustainable. The research contributes not only to the theoretical knowledge of linking ICT interventions and development goals, but also the practical knowledge of ICT-based human capacity building in LICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuing medical education (CME) plays a critical role in healthcare, helping to ensure patients receive the best possible care and optimal disease management. Considering the obstacles to engaging in CME activities faced by the clinical community, as well as employing learning theory, Liberum IME developed Classroom to Clinic™ – a bespoke, accredited learning format that can be tailored to individuals' educational needs and time constraints. Through monitoring use, and incorporating qualitative and quantitative feedback, we continuously evaluate the usability, value and accessibility of this programme and adapt subsequent iterations accordingly. An example of this is the way we adapted our engagement of facilitators. Originally this was accomplished by targeting individuals for train-the-trainer events, but it was clear this was more effective in some countries than in others. To address this variability, we piloted launching a new module at a relevant large international congress. This aimed to instigate a cascade in education sharing, from congress attendees to peers at their clinics and across departments and hospitals. So far, the programme has reported encouraging improvements in uptake, as well as knowledge, competence and clinical practice, while qualitative feedback has allowed for the identification of further educational needs and continued evolution of the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The participating doctors of the Hygia Chronotherapy Trial (HCT) are aware of the criticisms of its published findings, which have been unjustifiably misrepresented in letters to the editors and commentaries, perhaps because of lack of understanding of the foundations of the Hygia Project, in which the HCT is nested. Thus, our purpose through this communication is to highlight the unique features of the Hygia Project and HCT in terms of: (i) organization, management, and quality control, (ii) physician training/continuing medical education, and (iii) impact on every-day primary-care clinical practice specifically improved patient care through 48 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to diagnose and optimally manage by bedtime hypertension chronotherapy true arterial hypertension to markedly improve the cardiovascular health of our patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIntroductionMethodsResultsConclusionAs an early adopter of competency-based medical education (CBME) our postgraduate institution was uniquely positioned to analyze implementation experience data across programs, while keeping institutional factors constant. We described participants’ experiences related to CBME implementation across programs derived from early program evaluation efforts within our setting.This evaluation focused on eight residency programs at a medium-sized academic institution in Canada. Participants (n = 175) included program leaders, faculty, and residents. The study consisted of 3 phases: (1) describing intended implementation; (2) documenting enacted implementation; and (3) comparing intended with enacted implementation to inform adaptations. Each program’s findings were summarized in technical reports which were then analyzed thematically. Cross program data were organized by themes.Six themes were identified. All groups emphasized the need for ongoing refinement of CBME resulting from shared tensions such as increased assessment burden. However, there were some disparate CBME-related experiences between programs such as the experience with entrustable professional activities, the interpretation of retrospective entrustment anchors, and quality of feedback.We detected several cross-program successes and important challenges related to CBME. Our experience can inform other programs engaging in implementation and evaluation of CBME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numbers of online postgraduate coursework students are increasing within higher education and this raises questions of identity – what being a student means to this more mature cohort. This in-depth qualitative investigation explores postgraduate student identities within online learning. We conducted interviews (14) and collected completed longitudinal audio diaries from students (3) enrolled in a range of postgraduate programs. We interpreted two social imaginaries or 'figured worlds' that describe participants' sense of who they ought to be. The life-on-campus figured world projected a 'traditional' student who read textbooks, inhabits classrooms and talks with lecturers. Alternatively, my-time-and-screen figured world projected a technologically-enabled student whose world is mediated by software, devices, their own spaces and a sense of self-sufficiency. These insights afford new ways of thinking about the diversity of the student cohort and how course designs might accommodate the multiplicity of ways online postgraduate students view themselves and their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marburger Bund is the largest doctors' union in Europe representing about 125,000 salaried doctors in Germany and fights for fair working conditions, appropriate salaries, quality in training, and improvements in the work-life balance. Following a decision of 127th Marburger Bund General Assembly 2015, criteria should be developed to be applied by participants to assess independence in planning and delivery of individual CME activities. This position paper describes the role of methodological and medical competence generation and use of data (evidence) independent sources of information independence of faculty in CME language in medical education conduct of independent CME, and independence of (passive) physician participants in CME Measures are defined by which independence in CME may be achieved and how this may change the process of CME delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physicians always aim to improve their patients' health. CME should be designed not only to provide knowledge transfer, but also to influence clinical decision-making and to close performance gaps. In aretrospective study we analysed prescription rates for APT in 254,932 CAD patients (male: 64.4%), treated in atotal of 3,405 practices in 2019 in aDMP in the region of North Rhine, Germany. Analyses were run for the whole study population stratified by sex as well as for subgroups of patients suffering from myocardial infarction/acute coronary syndrome, or who have been treated with percutaneous coronary intervention or bypass surgery. Patients mean age was 72.7 ± 11.2 years (mean ± 1SD), mean duration of DMP participation was 7.2 ± 4.7 years, and mean cumulative number of DMP visits was 27 ± 17. APT prescription rates were 85.0% in male and 78.8% in female CAD patients. In subgroups of male CAD patients APT prescription rates were between 89.7% and 92.8%, in the same subgroups of female CAD patients the corresponding rates were between 87.8% and 92.0%. Rates for amissing APT prescription per practice were between.0044% and.0062% for male and female CAD patients, respectively. Rates for amissing APT prescription per practice and DMP visit were.0002% for both sexes. These results suggest that a DMP can achieve high attainment rates for APT in CAD. To further improve attainment rates, consideration of absolute numbers of eligible patients per practice or physician is probably more appropriate than expression of performance as percentage values. This is especially true if attainment rates show substantial variations between subgroups, if subgroups show substantial variation in size, if attainment rates are already in the magnitude of 80% or higher, and if there are disparities in the evidence base underlying treatment recommendations related to subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an increased focus and urgency for CE/CME professionals to effectively and systematically assess the impact of their educational interventions, the community has struggled to do so. This struggle is in large part due to the lack of a standardised outcomes language and a set of unified approaches to measure and communicate impact. In the spring of 2018, a group of volunteer educational research scientists and CE/CME professionals established a rigorous consensus-building process in an effort to address this need. This report describes the background, methods and first-year output (Glossary V1) of the Outcomes Standardisation Project (OSP); begins to introduce examples of how the OSP Glossary V1 may support the CE/CME professional community and concludes with plans for the future of establishing a common framework for the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, CPD systems vary widely. In Japan, the Japanese Medical Association (JMA) is responsible for identifying content and developing education for its speciality practice physicians. The JMA was concerned about persistent low levels of participation in its CME activities and wanted to better understand the root causes. The analysis would provide an opportunity to restructure its programme informed by the needs of its practising clinicians. The JMA engaged a global education provider to conduct an independent analysis of its CME programme. Using a mixed-methods approach, the education provider conducted an on-line survey (N = 338) and held two in-person focus groups (N = 24) to better understand the perspectives of physicians in speciality practice. The on-line survey was sent to over 7,000 practising physicians throughout Japan. Respondents reflected a variety of medical and surgical specialities and length in clinical practice. They described factors that influenced or were barriers to participation in JMA-sponsored education. Respondents also suggested changes to the current model of CME in Japan and expressed an ongoing commitment to life-long learning and achieving the goals set forth in Japan's vision for health care in 2035: Leading the World Through Health. Globally, medical associations are challenged with developing education that meets the needs of a diverse physician workforce. Improved understanding of the perspectives of its physician members and implementation of collaborations with speciality societies may be one strategy to improve quality and address healthcare population needs. Lessons learned from this analysis may help other medical associations with similar challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) Menu of Criteria for Commendation was created to incentivise a variety of behaviours and outcomes from accredited providers. ACCME analysed data from among the 1,053 accreditation decisions made between November 2017 and March 2022, of which 122 had applied for commendation. Accredited providers plan for higher level outcomes in their activities at an increasing rate over the past five years. Since 2017, 49 (40%) of the 122 organisations that applied for commendation under ACCME's new Menu of Criteria for Commendation were awarded this distinction. Of the organisations applying for commendation, 62%, 48% and 31% sought commendation using the "performance", "quality" and "community health" criteria, respectively. The success rate for each of these criteria was 78%, 68% and 66% respectively. Accreditation incentives can change the performance of educational providers and augment the quality and efficacy of continuing education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the challenges faced by providers of Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Europe. The Good CME Practice group highlights the issue of conflicting requirements for independence, accreditation, and funding in European CME-CPD. They express concern that healthcare professionals in the UK are being excluded from accredited CME activities funded by pharmaceutical companies. The article also addresses the evolving definitions of independence in medical education and the role of the pharmaceutical industry in promoting their products and providing CME-CPD-compliant financial support. The authors call for meaningful and enforceable standards to ensure that CME-CPD remains a valuable tool for improving clinical practice. [Extracted from the article]

In a welcome return to a live, in person, same space meeting, albeit with some participants joining virtually, the Fifteenth Annual European Continuing Medical Education (CME) Forum (#15ECF) was hosted in Barcelona, Spain,2-4 November 2022. The meeting began with sessions conducted by three special interest groups affiliated with the European CME Forum, but open to all registrants. The main part of the meeting comprised interactive discussion sessions conducted by presenters from North and South America, Europe, India, and Australia, which were interspersed with breakout workshops that tackled three themes, Innovation and Impact, Attitudes and Culture, and Environment and Community. A featured topic was the patient voice in education and insights were provided by the international delegates on their local frameworks for CME/CPD. Updates were also provided on harmonisation among international accreditors, and an important change to the Journal of European CME, that is closely linked to the European CME Forum, was announced. An oral presentation was made by one of the poster authors, and the perennial favourites "Lunch with the Learners" and the "CME Unsession" werealso included. The level of engagement displayed by the participants would seem to suggest that much of the recent fatigue associated with virtual meetings was mitigated by this live event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhat is the educational challenge? The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) is widely used to evaluate the quality of quantitative research in medical education. It has strong evidence of validity and is endorsed by guidelines. However, the manual appraisal process is time-consuming and resource-intensive, highlighting the need for more efficient methods. What are the proposed solutions? We propose to use ChatGPT to evaluate the quality of medical education research with the MERSQI and compare its scoring with those of human evaluators. What are the potential benefits to a broader global audience? Using ChatGPT to evaluate medical education research with the MERSQI can decrease the resources required for quality appraisal. This allows faster summaries of evidence, reducing the workload of researchers, editors, and educators. Furthermore, ChatGPTs’ capability to extract supporting excerpts provides transparency and may have the potential for data extraction and training new medical education researchers. What are the next steps? We plan to continue evaluating medical education research with ChatGPT using the MERSQI and other instruments to determine its feasibility in this realm. Moreover, we plan to investigate which types of studies ChatGPT performs best in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing continuing medical education (CME) training programs is a strategy for communicating emerging science to health practitioners. This research tests the feasibility of using CME modules for translating and disseminating research findings from the Breast Cancer and Environment Research Program. Recent findings have identified certain windows of susceptibility, like during puberty, in which exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals can increase breast cancer risk later in life. In order to reach pediatric patients and their caregivers, using a Diffusion of Innovations framework, pediatric health-care providers were identified as opinion leaders. Two CME modules informed by theory and formative research were tested with a sample of pediatricians and pediatric nurse practitioners. Participants completed knowledge, attitude, intention, and behavior items immediately before and after exposure to a randomly assigned module, and then again 3 weeks later. Quantitative and qualitative results indicate knowledge gain and strong links between practitioners' intentions to enact and implemented behavior learned from training recommendations with parents and caregivers in their practices. Results indicate that CMEs can be an effective strategy for translational activities targeted to health providers in order to change behavior within practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pharmaceutical industry requires a highly qualified workforce with diverse skillsets. Medical affairs pharmaceutical physicians (MAPPs) have unique qualifications among pharmaceutical company employees, but the exact contribution of their education and training is unknown. This study aimed to identify the medical education and training competencies MAPPs use in the pharmaceutical industry in relation to the four external stakeholders, regulators, payors, prescribers, and patients. Ten MAPPs were recruited using convenience sampling via professional networks. A systematic literature review and the Jandhyala method, a two-stage qualitative online consensus method, identified which of MAPPs' medical education and training competencies they used in their work with each external stakeholder. Statistical analyses determined heterogeneity in the relevance of competencies and competency categories to each stakeholder. Nine MAPPs completed the study. Of the 59 competencies identified, 54 were relevant to all external stakeholders. Relevance of competencies varied significantly between external stakeholders (p =.0434). Binary competency scores varied significantly for three pairs of stakeholders, "patient vs. payor" (p =.025), "prescriber vs. regulator" (p =.013) and "prescriber vs. payor" (p =.008). Between-stakeholder overall frequency count varied significantly for two of the nine competency categories. MAPPs develop a highly specialized set of competencies during medical education and training from which they use distinct subsets to meet the needs of external stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry. Undergraduate and postgraduate competency-based medical education appears to prepare MAPPs for cognitive and technical work. Further exploration may aid understanding of how they develop soft skills. Medical affairs pharmaceutical physicians (MAPPs) are of key importance in promoting patient centricity in the pharmaceutical industry. Their competency-based medical education and clinical experience give them a unique skillset among pharmaceutical company employees. MAPPs utilize their training to benefit pharmaceutical companies as well as the four external stakeholders in medicine adoption: regulators, payors, prescribers and patients. Previous work has suggested that their education and training may account for their ability to benefit all external stakeholders; however, this has not been explored in detail. The aim of this study was to identify competencies MAPPs develop during medical education, training and clinical experience and which of these they use in their work with each of the four external stakeholders. To do this, first, we reviewed the literature and asked MAPPs to self-report the competencies they developed during medical education and training, and which were relevant to their work with each of the four stakeholders. We found that 54 of the 59 identified competencies were relevant to work with all external stakeholders. However, the relevance of individual competencies varied between external stakeholders, with further analysis showing that the difference appeared to be accounted for by differences between three main pairs of stakeholders. These were "patient vs. payor", "prescriber vs. regulator" and "prescriber vs. payor. In other words, MAPPs were likely to use different competencies in their work with each stakeholder. With our analysis of competency categories, we concluded that MAPPs use a highly specialized combination of competencies adapted to each external stakeholder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Continuing Medical Education (CME) is a cornerstone of improving competencies and ensuring high-quality patient care by nurses and physicians. The Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia collaborated with Steno Diabetes Centre to improve diabetes-related competencies of general physicians and nurses working in primary care through a six-month training programme called the Steno REACH Certificate Course in Clinical Diabetes Care (SRCC). Objective: This impact evaluation aimed to assess the effect of participation of general physicians and nurses in the SRCC in selected public primary healthcare clinics in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. Design: The quasi-experimental, embedded, mixed-methods study used concurrent data collection and the Solomon four-group design. Participants in an intervention group (Arm 1) and control group (Arm 3) were assessed by pre-and post-test, and participants in separate intervention (Arm 2) and control (Arm 4) groups were assessed by post-test only. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to assess the effect of the programme. Results: Thirty-four of the 39 participants in the intervention groups (Arms 1 and 2) completed the SRCC and were included in the analysis. All 35 participants in the control groups (Arms 3 and 4) remained at the end of the study period. Significant improvements in diabetes-related knowledge, skills and clinical practise were found among general physicians and nurses in the intervention group after the six-month SRCC, after controlling the pretest effects. No clear changes could be traced regarding attitudes. Conclusion: SRCC participants had significant improvements in knowledge, skills and clinical practice that meet the current needs of general physicians and nurses working in primary care in Malaysia. Thus, SRCC is an effective CME approach to improving clinical diabetes care that can be scaled up to the rest of the country and, with some modification, beyond Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Engagement in CME/CPD has a positive impact on healthcare professionals' (HCPs) knowledge, skills, and performance, and on patient outcomes, therefore it is critical to better understand the components of CME/CPD systems that foster engagement, high-quality education, and impact. Methods: An assessment of CME/CPD systems was conducted using a mixed-methods approach that included interviews with in-country subject matter experts and qualitative and quantitative data from practicing in-country physicians. Results: Results demonstrate areas of consistency in CME/CPD systems across world regions that included: types of educational providers; types of credit; educational formats; self-tracking of participation; high-degree of compliance when education is mandatory; overall satisfaction with available education; strong support for interprofessional education; and lack of alignment or evaluation of engagement in education with population health outcomes. Areas of variation included: whether engagement in education is required as a condition to practice medicine; whether regulations are uniformly applied; if mechanisms to ensure independence existed; and physician perceptions of independence. Conclusion: Results of this assessment maybe used by a variety of different stakeholders to assess how well country-level CME/CPD systems are meeting the needs of practicing physicians and determine what, if any, changes might need to be implemented to improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1991, there have been significant changes in medical education in Georgia. Key changes include adapting national legislation toward international standards, establishing the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement (NCEQE), which was recognized in 2018 by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) as an accrediting agency and opening the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) International Networking Center in 2019. Undergraduate medical education, regulated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia, spans six years. MD graduates then have options for further career paths, including working as junior doctors, residency, and/or pursuing PhD research. The main challenges the country presently faces are: the need to reduce the increasing number of (mainly) private medical schools. Recent updates to the national standards for undergraduate medical education have imposed stricter accreditation requirements for MD programs, resulting in the closure of schools that fail to meet these standards; postgraduate medical education is governed by the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia (MOH) and needs further reform due to limited and paid residency positions; continuous professional development (CPD) was optional until recently, which led to an increase in professional inaccuracy and malpractice cases. To address this, regulatory bodies, including the MOH and professional associations, are preparing the legal basis for introducing compulsory CPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This prospective longitudinal study assessed the effects of the course management system, EDU3, on the effectiveness of the dissemination of holistic health care and evidence-based medicine (EBM) courses. Between January 2014 and December 2021, delinked data (n = 354,229) from EDU3 were analyzed. In addition to analyzing the main educational team or seed teachers responsible for opening the courses, yearly changing trends in the number and teaching styles of courses, main participants, and the diversity of teaching activities were evaluated. EDU3 precisely announced the courses opened by non-doctor major departments, including departments of medical education, nursing, and medical research, for non-doctor medical personnel. Meanwhile, the system smoothly announced doctor major departments which opened courses for doctors. A 2 times/4.5 times parallel increase in holistic health care/EBM courses from institution to department and the yearly increasing trends in the number of these courses indicated the success of this system. This study revealed that centralized training of seed teachers motivated them to open diverse department-oriented teaching activities for holistic health care and EBM. The parallel increasing trends of the number of courses opened by the institution and departments indicated the effective dissemination of holistic health care and EBM from institution to department. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coaching has become increasingly popular as a mechanism to support learning across the health professions education (HPE) continuum. While there is a growing body of literature in this area, there is minimal guidance related to the design and implementation of academic coaching in health professional courses. This paper seeks to contribute to this literature by presenting guidance for academic developers who are considering introducing academic coaching into a health professional course. The 12 tips are based on the authors' collective experiences of designing and implementing academic coaching in university medical courses in Australia and the UK. Although focused on medical education, this paper is intended to have applicability across the health professions, and potentially across university and postgraduate training contexts. Together, the tips offer a strategic and operational framework to guide the design and implementation of academic coaching initiatives in health professions education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem: Conferences are the most common form of continuing medical education (CME), but their effect on clinician practice is inconsistent. Reflection is a critical step in the process of practice change among clinicians and may lead to improved outcomes following conference-based CME. However, reflection requires time to process newly-learned material. Adequate time for reflection may be noticeably absent during many conference presentations. Intervention: The pause procedure is a 90-second 'pause' during a 30-minute presentation so learners can review and discuss content. The goal of the pause procedure is to stimulate learners' active engagement with newly learned material which will, in turn, promote learner reflection. Context: Fifty-six presentations at two hospital medicine CME conferences were assigned to the pause procedure or control. Study outcomes provided by conference participants were validated reflection scores and commitment-to-change (CTC) statements for each presentation. A post-hoc survey of the intervention group was conducted to assess presenters' experiences with the pause procedure. Impact: A total of 527 conference participants completed presentation evaluations (response rate 72.7%). Presentations incorporating the pause procedure failed to lead higher participant reflection scores (percentage 'top box' score; intervention: 39.2% vs. control: 41.7%, p = 0.40) or participant CTC rates (median [IQR]; intervention: 4.64 [3.04, 10.57] vs. control: 8.16 [5.28, 17.12], p = 0.13) than control presentations. However, the majority of presenters (16 out of 17 survey respondents) had never before used the intervention and little active engagement among learners was noted during the pause procedure. Lessons Learned: Adding the pause procedure to CME presentations did not lead to greater reflection or CTC among clinician learners. However, presenters had limited experience with the intervention, which may have reduced their fidelity to the educational principles of the pause procedure. Faculty development may be necessary when planning a new educational intervention that is to be implemented by conference presenters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies which report outcomes of continuing medical education (CME) interventions for rural general practitioners (GPs) are limited. This mixed methods study recruited GPs from four CME small group learning (SGL) tutor groups based in different rural locations in the Republic of Ireland. A two-hour teaching module on deprescribing in older patients was devised and implemented. Assessment of educational outcomes was via questionnaires, prescribing audits and qualitative focus groups. All GPs (n = 43) in these CME-SGL groups agreed to participate, 27 of whom (63%) self-identified as being in rural practice. Rural GPs were more likely to be male (56%), in practice for longer (19 years), and attending CME for longer (13 years). The questionnaires indicated learning outcomes were achieved knowledge increased immediately after the education, and was maintained 6 months later. Twenty-four GPs completed audits involving 191 patients. Of these, 152 (79.6%) were de-prescribed medication. In the qualitative focus groups, GPs reported sharing experiences with their peers during CME-SGL helped them to improve patient care and ensured that clinical practice is more consistent across the group. For rural GPs, CME-SGL involving discussion of cases and the practical implementation of guidelines, associated with audit, can lead to changes in patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Delphi method is a demonstrated way to gather structured expert opinions to forecast, plan, and prioritize around a given topic. It builds consensus through iterative rounds. Aims: The goal of this study was to build consensus-based predictions for the year 2022 about: future trends in surgeon continuing medical education (CME); the role of technology in learning for surgeons of different experience levels (trainee/resident, practicing, expert); and CME funding models. Methods: A three round e-Delphi method was employed for this study. Panelist identities were anonymized, and controlled feedback and consensus rules were employed. Fifteen international expert panelists' input was collected via electronically distributed, open-ended questionnaire (Round 1) and 5-point Likert scale ranking surveys (Rounds 2 and 3), in a series of nine questions (Round 1) and 26 and 25 summary statements (Rounds 2 and 3, respectively). Summary statements were collated via key words and ideas collected from panelist's input. Mean, median, standard deviation, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: Response rate was 100% for each round. Consensus in Round 2 was 61% and 88% in Round 3. Seven key finding statements with supporting background information was the result. Discussion: Reliable, affordable internet access was identified as a likely barrier to education for certain regions, even in 5 years' time. The use of similar educational resources were identified for all levels of surgeon, what varied was the reliance on a particular resource by each level of surgeon. Conclusion: Institutes of employment were predicted to have ended CME funding for expert surgeons by 2022. Industry sponsored CME was predicted to have a continued role for trainee/residents and practicing surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary care providers play a vital role for HIV prevention and care in high burden areas of the Southeast United States. Studies reveal that only a third of these providers had previous HIV-related training. We evaluated the effects of targeted online continuing medical education training on HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and practices among providers in the Southeast. During April 2017–February 2018, we administered baseline and six-month follow-up surveys to assess changes attributed to online training among a representative sample of providers from six Southeast locations. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis (p < 0.05). Baseline and follow-up surveys were completed by 349 participants (61.2% female, 64.6% white, 69.6% physicians, and 27.5% aged 40 years or less); 18% (n = 63) of whom visited online training websites sent following the baseline survey. Comparing baseline versus follow-up responses, providers who completed online training were half as likely to identify "patients' age" (30% vs. 15%) and "patients' race" (3% vs. 1.4%) as barriers to discussing sex with clients; survey responses by participants who declined training remained unchanged. Based on baseline versus follow-up responses, providers who visited online training websites were more likely to become familiar with preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) (38% vs. 58%); participants who declined training remained unchanged at 45%. No impact on clinical practices such as PrEP prescriptions was identified. Targeted online training can enhance HIV readiness and should be explored for providers in the Southeast, particularly for enhancing PrEP service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of continuing medical education (CME) is to help healthcare providers (HCP) improve their knowledge and levels of competency with an ultimate enhancement of their performance in practice. Despite the long and well-intentional history of CME, the proof of success (based on improved clinical outcomes) is difficult to obtain objectively. In the past several years, the traditional CME world has been disrupted by replacing multiple-choice questions with virtual simulation. We utilised an innovative, next-generation virtual patient simulation (VPS) platform to develop objective measures to assess the success of educational activities that can be applied to the CME. This VPS platform was used at five distinct educational events designed to assess learners' knowledge and competency in the guideline-driven management of Type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, and hypertension. A total of 432 learners (medical doctors, nurse practitioners, and clinical pharmacists) participated in these educational events of whom 149 went through two consecutive cases with a similar clinical picture and educational goals. Their ability to achieve glycaemic, lipid, and blood pressure control improved significantly as they moved from the first to the second case. The participants improved their test performance in all categories – between 5 and 38%, achieving statistically significant increases in the many goals examined. In conclusion, this study employed the pioneering application of technology to produce, collect and analyse the VPS data to evaluate objectively educational activities. This VPS platform allows not only an objective assessment of the effectiveness of the CME activity but also provides timely and helpful feedback to both learners and providers of a given educational event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although simulation-based training is increasingly used for medical education, its benefits in continuing medical education (CME) are less established. This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating simulation-based training into a CME conference and compare its effectiveness with the traditional workshop in improving knowledge and self-reported confidence. Methods: Participants (N=27) were group randomized to either a simulation-based workshop or a traditional case-based workshop. Results: Post-training, knowledge assessment score neither did increase significantly in the traditional group (d=0.13; p=0.76) nor did significantly decrease in the simulation group (d=-0.44; p=0.19). Self-reported comfort in patient assessment parameters increased in both groups (p<0.05 in all). However, only the simulation group reported an increase in comfort in patient management (d=1.1, p=0.051 for the traditional group and d=1.3; p=0.0003 for the simulation group). At 1 month, comfort measures in the traditional group increased consistently over time while these measures in the simulation group increased post-workshop but decreased by 1 month, suggesting that some of the effects of training with simulation may be short lived. Discussion: The use of simulation-based training was not associated with benefits in knowledge acquisition, knowledge retention, or comfort in patient assessment. It was associated with superior outcomes in comfort in patient management, but this benefit may be short-lived. Further studies are required to better define the conditions under which simulation-based training is beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]