Continuing medical education

Continuing medical education (CME) refers to a specific form of continuing education (CE) that helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications, online programs, audio, video, or other electronic media.^[1] Content for these programs is developed, reviewed, and delivered by faculty who are experts in their individual clinical areas. Similar to the process used in academic journals, any potentially conflicting financial relationships for faculty members must be both disclosed and resolved in a meaningful way.^[2] However, critics complain that drug and device manufacturers often use their financial sponsorship to bias CMEs towards marketing their own products.

Historical context

Continuing medical education is not a new concept. From essentially the beginning of institutionalized medical instruction (medical instruction affiliated with medical colleges and teaching hospitals), health practitioners continued their learning by meeting with their peers.^[3] Grand rounds, case discussions, and meetings to discuss published medical papers constituted the continuing learning experience. In the 1950s through to the 1980s, CME was increasingly funded by the pharmaceutical industry. Concerns regarding informational bias (both intentional and unintentional) led to increasing scrutiny of the CME funding sources. This led to the establishment of certifying agencies such as the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education ^[4] which is an umbrella organization representing medical associations and bodies of academic medicine from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Europe. The pharmaceutical industry has also developed guidelines regarding drug detailing and industry sponsorship of CME, such as the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board(PAAB) ^[5] and Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies(Rx&D).^[6]

CME Requirements

In the United States, many states require CME for medical professionals to maintain their licenses. For example, Arizona requires an average of 40 hours of CME every two years.^[7] For a complete list of requirements by state, see State Medical Licensure Requirements and Statistics, 2006. Within the United States, CME for physicians is regulated by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the American Osteopathic Association.

In Canada, certification is provided by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada(RCPSC) and the College of Family Physicians of Canada(CFPC). The RCPSC is responsible for the development and implementation of all certifying examinations in each specialty other than Family Medicine. Specialist physicians who join the Royal College as Fellows maintain their knowledge, skills, competence and performance through participating in the Maintenance of Certification Program. For each five year cycle, fellows of the college are required to document 400 credits, with a minimum of 40 credits obtained in each year of the cycle. Credits are earned at one to two credits per hour, based on the type of learning activity.^[8] The CFPC requires 250 credit-hours over a five year cycle. Fifty credits must be obtained for each year of the cycle. To earn and maintain fellowship within the college, an additional 24 credit-hours of higher level learning are also required over each learning cycle.^[9] Similarly, each province and territory requires documentation of ongoing CME for licensure.^[10]

Non-CME (Promotional Education) Programs

Non-CME activities, also referred to as Promotional Medical Education, encompass a variety of industry sponsored educational programs for medical professionals. Several things serve to distinguish these programs, which are typically aimed at promotion of a given product or therapy, from accredited CME programs:

• Lack of accreditation
• Direct Industry Sponsorship
• Specific Product or Therapy Focus
• Strict regulation against off-label promotion

Production of CME Courses

Continuing medical education activities are developed and delivered by a variety of organizations, including:

• Professional Associations
• Medical Education Agencies
• Hospitals
• Educational institutions, including universities, medical and nursing schools

Activities may be classified as Formal Learning Activities: including live planned programs, enduring materials (such as DVD- and web-based content), Process Improvement CME (or PI-CME, as defined by the American Medical Association), or Informal Learning Activities such as Internet-Point of Care (POC) research and decision making, or journal clubs whose members evaluate published research for mutual awareness and benefit.

In 2008, professional certification for CME planners was established by the National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals, which is earned by standardized exam, and confers the Certified CME Professional (CCMEP) certificate. NC-CME maintains a registry of these certified professionals. As of June 2011, the Registry included 320 professionals.

Criticism of industry sponsorship

Critics, such as Morris and Taitsman,^[11] would prefer that the medical profession eliminate commercial support for CME.

Despite ACCME requirements that program content be free of commercial interests, "CME providers can easily pitch topics designed to attract commercial sponsorship," and sponsors can award grants to programs that support their marketing strategies.^[11] The Institute of Medicine has said that CME has become too reliant on industry funding that "tends to promote a narrow focus on the products and to neglect provisions of a broader education on alternative strategies," such as communication and prevention.^[12]

For example, gabapentin (Neurontin), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for adjunctive therapy in epilepsy, but Warner-Lambert sponsored CME activities that encouraged its use for off-label indications. The U.S. Department of Justice brought civil and criminal charges against Warner-Lambert, which Warner-Lambert settled for $430 million, alleging that Warner-Lambert paid kickbacks to doctors in the form of lavish trips to attend presentations about off-label uses.^[13] More recently, AstraZeneca PLC has been fined $520 million in the United States for off-label promotion to doctors for their anti-psychotic drug, Seroquel.

Industry-sponsored CMEs can violate federal statutes, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "When a pharmaceutical manufacturer rewards high-prescribing physicians by directing a CME provider to pay (or overpay) them as CME faculty, consultants, or members of a speaker's bureau," wrote Morris and Taitsman.^[11]

References

1. ^ http://www.accme.org/dir_docs/doc_upload/9c795f02-c470-4ba3-a491-d288be965eff_uploaddocument.pdf
2. ^ Microsoft Word - 182_SCS_1_April 2004 SCS_approved_20070824.doc
3. ^ Ahmed K, Ashrafian H (October 2009). "Life-long learning for physicians". Science 326 (5950): 227. doi:10.1126/science.326_227a. PMID 19815754. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=19815754. 
4. ^ Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education
5. ^ Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board
6. ^ Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies
7. ^ http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/455/licensurerereg-06.pdf
8. ^ MOC Program InfoGuide http://rcpsc.medical.org/opd/moc-program/infoguide_e.pdf
9. ^ CME Maintenance Proficiency http://www.cfpc.ca/English/cfpc/cme/mainpro/maintenance%20of%20proficiency/default:asp?s=1
10. ^ Ahmed K, Ashrafian H, Hanna GB, Darzi A, Athanasiou T (October 2009). "Assessment of specialists in cardiovascular practice". Nat Rev Cardiol 6 (10): 659–67. doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2009.155. PMID 19724254. http://www.nature.com/nrcardio/journal/v6/n10/pdf/nrcardio.2009.155.pdf. 
11. ^ ^{a b c} Morris L, Taitsman JK (December 2009). "The agenda for continuing medical education—limiting industry's influence". N. Engl. J. Med. 361 (25): 2478–82. doi:10.1056/NEJMsb0905411. PMID 20018969. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/25/2478. 
12. ^ Institute of Medicine, Conflict of interest in medical research, education, and practice. Washington, D.C., National Academies Press, 2009.
13. ^ Warner-Lambert to pay $430 million to resolve criminal & civil health care liability relating to off-label promotion. Press release of the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, May 13, 2004.

External links

• Continuing medical education at the Open Directory Project
• Practicing Clinicians Exchange, NP & PA Continuing Medical Education
• The Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education
• Continuing Professional Development, University of British Columbia (website) Provider of accredited CME (CFPC Mainpro M1, RCPSC Section 1, AMA Category 1)
• CME Conferences by Medical Education Resources, Inc., a non-profit medical education company.
• Vindico Medical Education Vindico Medical Education is an accredited provider of CME, CE, and CNE activities in live, print, and online formats.
• BMJ Learning online CME BMJ Learning is an accredited provider of online CME courses based within the UK.
• Doctors Aiding Doctors CME (DAD) is an online community of physicians dedicated to CME and the betterment of medical practices.
• The Institute for Advanced Medical Education (IAME) is an accredited provider of continuing medical education, providing practice-changing experiences for physicians, nurses, technologists and other health care professionals. IAME is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.