Starting a CME Program at Your Library
Posted on December 4, 2009 by ebrennan | No Comments
By Joe Pozdol, USC Norris Medical Library
At the November 20th MLGSCA Continuing Education program, “Exploiting Librarian Skills to Enhance Continuing Medical Education Programsâ€, Dr. Jerrald Roberts from the University of Utah School of Medicine spoke about setting up a CME program for clinicians. By allowing doctors to submit the searches they conduct, medical libraries can help physicians get 0.5 AMA category 1 credit per search. Up to 20 of these credits can be counted toward a Physician’s Recognition Award.
The Point of Care internet CME began in 2006 and, according to Dr. Roberts, is a form of “structured, self-directed, online learning.â€Â Dr. Roberts has created a CME template that meets necessary American Council for Continuing Medical Education criteria and is willing to share this form at no charge to interested medical libraries. In order to get credit, physicians must complete the following steps:
- Identify a clinical question based on a point of care patient need
- Choose which databases to search from a list of hyperlinks (e.g. PubMed, National Guideline Clearinghouse, ACP Pier)
- Cut and paste search URLs
- Explain how the information learned will be applied
- Submit the form for evaluation and print out a certificate upon receipt
Dr. Roberts emphasized that setting up a Point of Care Internet CME program is easy and requires little time. The only software required is Adobe Acrobat, which is used to create the PDF form that will be automatically emailed to the CME office for evaluation. Dr. Roberts recommended putting a link to the form on the library website and sending an email to physicians to advertise the service.
In the one year since Dr. Roberts established his Point of Care internet CME program, 19 doctors have participated a total of 55 times, and 8 individuals without MDs have participated a total of 18 times. Dr. Roberts is happy to discuss his program with anyone interested and is willing to share all of his materials to facilitate implementation of this service.
For more information, visit the University of Utah School of Medicine Office of Continuing Medical Education website or contact Dr. Roberts at (801) 581-6886 or jerrald.roberts@hsc.utah.edu.
Posted 12/4/09
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