CONVENE SURVEY: Shift in CME Emphasis?

MEDICAL MEETINGS

Recently Convene asked several hundred medical meeting planners whether they’ve noticed a shift in emphasis for continuing medical education (CME)—away from “simple ‘information transfer’” and toward “showing quantifiable change in competence, performance, and/or patient outcomes.” Out of 109 respondents, more than half answered yes, while 18 percent saidtheir CME offerings have always been this way. Fewer than 5 percent answeredno.

Haveyounoticedashift in emphasis forCMEfrom simple“information transfer”to showingquantifiable change incompetence,performance,and/or patient outcomes?

Yes.

53.2% 4.6%

No. Our CME offerings have always been this way.

18.3% 13.8% 10.1%

I don’t know. 52 I am not involved in providing CME.

“We’re in themiddle of ACCME reaccreditation, so this is a fresh issue. I also see more phar- maceutical grant recon- ciliation ... based on these standards.”

the research-grade end of the spectrum, and thus is a good example for CME providers seeking to increase their level of accreditation. “We always tie back to the learning objec- tives,”Pagano said, “so that when we do pre-testing in addi- tion to post-testing, we can measure the immediate effect the education had on the learner.” Of course, the long-term effect is even more important, which is why the Institute goes back to its CME learners to

pcmaconvene April 2011

assess their retention in terms of both knowledge and com- petence 45 days after an educational activity is launched.“We measure competence by doing case histories and case vignettes,” Pagano said, “and testing on whether they are competent to answer those questions.” Change in performance is harder to measure. The Institute

conducts subjective questioning, asking physicians what they’ve done differently since participating in a CME pro-

www.pcma.org

Two of the comments Convene received fromsurvey respondents:

“This is the direction that CME ismoving.Meas- urement and outcomes is the buzz.”