Your next CME class could be in cyberspace
Your next CME class could be in cyberspace
Earn on-line credits conveniently, cheaply
When the medical staff at Columbus (OH) Oncology Associates work on their continuing medical education (CME) requirements, they’re likely to listen to a seminar on audiotape or compact disc in their car or go on-line for a study session on the Internet.
"We are avid users of technology for CMEs," says Ruth Lander, FACMPE, practice administrator. "We do audio conferences for several staff or get CMEs through Internet services. It saves travel time and dollars."
The seven-physician practice is not alone. More and more health care professionals are fulfilling their CME requirements at home, in the car, and in the office. Today’s technology allows them to learn at their own pace and at a time and place that’s convenient for them.
"We all know that the time out of the office for a physician to attend a course is very expensive. Under the present health system, there is more pressure for doctors to stay in the office and see more patients. Our idea is to make continuing education available to physicians at their convenience," says Ed Oshira, executive director of the CME program at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Oshira’s department provides continuing medical education for physicians and other health care professionals in Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.
"Most of these doctors are in remote areas. Distance learning is a good way for them to get CME credits," Oshira says.
Physicians have earned more than 10,000 hours of Category 1 CME credit in the past year through courses offered by Medical Directions at its Virtual Lecture Hall Web site, says John Harris, MD, president of the Tucson, AZ, firm.
"Internet learning may be better. It’s definitely more convenient and costs less than traditional CME programs. The only thing our program doesn’t do is to allow you to go to a nice place where you can swim in the pool after the lecture is over," Harris says.
Physicians’ Online, with more than 200,000 physician members, has 17 CME courses among its services that include medical and pharmaceutical databases, on-line discussion groups, bulletin boards, and archives of information covering 20,000 to 30,000 topics, according to David Danar, MD, vice president of the Tarrytown, NY, company.
"CME is a requirement we would like to satisfy in a convenient way. Through on-line services, people can dial it up directly in all 50 states when they’re sitting at home in their bathrobe," Danar says.
The company does not create its own courses, but relies on other sources, such as hospitals, research facilities, and Harris’ Virtual Lecture Hall.
For instance, when a state medical society offered hundreds of board review questions to Danar, he called Harris, whose firm developed an interactive quiz show with the material. The information is available on both Web sites.
While the future of CME clearly lies in technology, for the present physicians need to carefully match their own technology with that of companies that offer CME, notes Marcus Underwood. He is director of new media for Medical Economics, a publishing company in Montvale, NJ, that offers both CME and nursing-based continuing education programs.
"One of the problems doctors face is that some companies rely very heavily on sophisticated multimedia interactive technology for their CME programs," he says. "That’s great if the physician is sitting in his office with a full-power PC that can handle multimedia. But if the doctor is sitting at home with even a slightly old PC, he might as well go out to dinner while the computer loads the program he’ll be taking the test from. Not everyone is ready for multimedia."
Another downside is that Internet learning is in the early stages. Because of the expense of creating interactive programs (some estimate it costs as much as $20,000 to produce one accredited hour), some Web-based content is basically a book or newsletter on a computer screen.
That’s why some distance learning providers, such as Londonderry, NH-based CEU Online, look for sponsors to pay the expense of creating educational programs.
CEU Online’s educational products for health care providers use a combination of audio, video, and text. Health care providers can listen to a CD at their leisure and access the mastery component on the Internet, or they can take the entire course on-line.
"We find physicians particularly enjoy audio components that they can plug into their car CD player," says Sharyn Lee, president and chief executive officer of the company.
The CDs are purchased by sponsors who give the CDs to the physicians within their sales territory through a network or by direct mail.
The company is building a Web conferencing center that will enable it to provide live interactive sessions as a component of an educational course.
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