Tips and Tricks: Starting Your Own Continuing Medical Education Course

Abstract

A continuing medical education (CME) course is a great tool to provide updates and key learning to medical providers, elevate the profile of your faculty and increase the visibility of your division, department and medical center. However, there are several pitfalls that can occur. In this article, we provide some tips and tricks to plan and hold a successful CME course (Table 1).Table 1Tips and Tricks for Planning a Successful CME CourseKey factorsTipsPreplanningNeeds AssessmentFinding a CME providerAcquiring fundingSelecting facultyPlanning ContentAdvertisingFormally assess why you are doing your courseOwn institution or www.accme.org/find-cme-providerUnrestricted education grant, sponsorship, exhibitor feesAppeal, expertise, own faculty, DEIPlanning committeeBrochure, website, paid online advertising, social media, society endorsementsThe CourseLocationTime/length of eventAudio/visualSeatingMealsNetworkingLive endoscopyHands-onBased on regional versus national audience. Choose an easy to access location that is comfortable and with a varied price range of roomsBased on content and needs assessmentHighest quality you can afford. Hybrid optionConsider COVID restrictionsHighest quality you can afford; time to network with sit down lunchConsider a welcome reception after the first day with wine in a comfortable settingEnsure high quality audio-visual feed is available and has been testedAllow proper time for credentialing/privileging and confirming malpractice coverage if visiting faculty will be usedObtain appropriate AV specific informed consent and avoid displaying PHI during broadcast.Ensure endoscopist and team are familiar with all technical aspects of the planned procedure and used technologies.Have simultaneous cases/backup video to allow for content presentation in the event of procedural delays or technical issues with AV.Outline objectives for each case and discuss with endoscopist, moderator panel and procedure room moderator to ensure they are covered during the caseProvide adequate space and industry/faculty support to maximize participant learningTailor hands-on demonstrations to match attendee skill set and topics/procedures discussed or demonstrated at coursePost courseAttendee assessmentCME/MOC creditsPlanning for next timeHave course assessment for feedback. Query quality of content and speakers; location and meals; perception of bias and gauge learning with pre–post test questionsProvide both CME/MOC to participantsTry to keep same time/date to build loyalty. Study assessment for ways to improveAV, audiovisual; CME/MOC, continuing medical education/maintenance of certification; DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion; PHI, personal health information. Open table in a new tab AV, audiovisual; CME/MOC, continuing medical education/maintenance of certification; DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion; PHI, personal health information. Before planning a CME course, answer a series of questions to determine whether you should have the course—and if it will be successful (Figure 1). Performing a needs assessment is the crucial initial step before deciding upon a course. You can start by conducting a gap analysis of existing gastroenterology (GI) courses to see if the needs of your target audience are being met. This process may involve looking at existing courses in your region and at a national level, looking at common referral questions sent to your practice, and assessing the expertise of your department. The needs assessment may also include the priorities of your practice. Do you want to increase the profile of your group in the community and stimulate referrals? Do you want to highlight an expertise or new procedure or person? If you do not really have a compelling answer as to why you are having the meeting, then you should rethink holding it in the first place. Once you have performed your needs assessment, the who should be easy to decide. The target audience may be regional (provide education for local providers who do not travel to national meetings and/or build referral networks and highlight the work your department is doing) or national (you have national expertise and will draw participation from around the country). The planning committee should be diverse and representative of the content and target audience. For example, if you are targeting GIs (practice and academics) and advanced practice practitioners, both should be represented on your planning committee. Including junior faculty to build their experience and include their viewpoint as well as choosing someone without any conflicts of interest to review the talks is helpful. The speakers should be selected for their expertise and their ability to draw an audience. Successfully mixing your own faculty, particularly junior faculty, with experienced speakers helps their development both academically and with respect to regional profile. This may be by placing them on an interactive panel with senior faculty, having them deliver a lecture in a cluster of talks on a particular topic or having them moderate sessions. The networking that can occur is also invaluable. Finally, it is important to consider principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of planning. The needs assessment should answer this question. What is the gap you are trying to fill? The course may be a general GI update or may provide cutting edge content on the regional and national levels, highlighting the work your department is doing. The added value is how you attract attendees to your course rather than the myriad of other courses on offer. Ideas include having expert national speakers, offering maintenance of certification (MOC), providing networking opportunities, and choosing a pleasant location at a good time of the year. The timing and location of a meeting may be the difference between success and abject failure. Are there other similar meetings in your city or region? If so, how will yours be different? You will need to review regional and national calendars and contact potential speakers in advance to avoid conflicting with other major events, some of which you may be unaware of. For example, let’s walk through a hypothetical meeting. The new chief of the Division of Gastroenterology in Southern Camelot wants to start a CME meeting and has asked you to chair it. Her goal is to raise the profile of the division and increase referrals. She offers only enough funds to meet the CME accreditation and planning fees for the first year; you must raise the rest. Your clinical faculty consists of 5 junior faculty including 1 in a hot new area of GI, 10 midcareer faculty—6 with clinical research careers (inflammatory bowel disease, hepatology, and pancreas) and 4 in education, and 7 senior faculty—4 nationally recognized, 2 semiretired and 1 talented director of endoscopy. Your major competition is Northern Camelot University (NCU), which conducts well-established individual CME meetings on inflammatory bowel disease, hepatology, and motility. The who and why are very clear. You want to increase awareness of your division and your faculty and build referral networks to your clinical practice amongst regional providers. However, there are already well-established subspecialty meetings in your region. What the course is about and what it offers should be unique to the area. Instead of doing the same thing as NCU, you should target a need. You have a new faculty member in a “hot” area of GI that is rising in national prominence and most universities do not have this expertise. You can create a small niche meeting around this topic that will grow over time. Or, the regional providers may appreciate a general GI meeting that covers the hot new discipline as well as topics covered by NCU—inflammatory bowel disease, hepatology, and motility—and other general GI topics such as esophagus, pancreas, small bowel, and colon. The addition of a hands-on endoscopy experience and a networking reception will really make it a premier event for your region. This plays to the strengths of your institution. The added value may come from offering MOC points (very important to community GIs), a separate advanced practice practitioner session before the main meeting or adding on a virtual component for those who cannot travel. These additions can be done over time as the meeting grows and there is adequate funding. A hybrid model is likely the future of CME events, so understanding how to successfully run a virtual course will be important for the future of your meeting. Where and when should consider other meetings in the region and major national meetings. Because the target is regional providers, it should be in your area at a time of year without conflicts. In choosing your location, remember that certain sites may limit the type of funding you can receive because pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies self-regulate to not permit funding events at resorts or 5-star hotels. Also, ensure the site has adequate conference space, meeting rooms and audio-visual capability. Investing in a high-quality audiovisual team, particularly if the meeting is hybrid or involves live endoscopy, goes a long way toward audience and speaker enjoyment and reflects the sophistication of your offering. The next steps are selecting your planning committee, selecting your speakers and topics, selecting your location, finding your CME provider, and raising funds. The planning committee should be diverse, representative of the content and include junior and senior faculty. There needs be ≥1–2 people without conflicts of interest to review the speaker talks. Depending on your relationships and your region, getting national speakers to your course can be challenging. Build on relationships you and your senior faculty have and make it as streamlined a process as you can for them. Advertising is incredibly important and often overlooked. Once you have identified your target audience, you must study and understand what the best marketing practice is to reach them. Many attendees still respond well to mailed brochures so meetings will send these approximately 6–9 months before the event. Emails are only helpful if you have access to an established list. Bulk emails go to spam folders. Social media (Twitter, LinkedIn) may be helpful based on your audience and is free to do.1Hameed I. Oakley C.T. Ahmed A. et al.Analysis of physician use of social media.JAMA Netw Open. 2021; 4e2118213Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar Your institution or CME provider will be able to purchase address lists and help with online advertising. You can apply for endorsement and pay a (significant) fee to GI societies to use their logo on your materials and be featured on their website. You can seek assistance from your institution’s media department, and you should definitely seek counsel from existing successful courses at your site. Next you must tackle the intricacies of CME. Organizations that meet American Medical Association (AMA) and Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) standards and requirements can offer accredited CME activities.2Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Homepage on the internet. Available at:.www.accme.orgGoogle Scholar Within the United States, the AMA only authorizes organizations that are accredited by the ACCME (or by a state medical society recognized by the ACCME) to designate and award AMA Physician’s Recognition Awards Category 1 Credit to physicians. The exception would be education activities directly certified by the AMA. Even though these credits are designed for physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants can claim these credits for recertification purposes because they are recognized by their specific credentialing organizations. Credit applications must be submitted for approval. Applications typically contain information regarding education needs and gaps, outcome measurements, learning objectives, disclosure management, and content. Anyone associated with the CME activity with control over educational content must disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest related to subject matter of the activity. Course directors must resolve any conflicts of interest. Adherence to these standards ensures that the CME activities are free of commercial influence and provide information to improve healthcare. The ACCME website allows one to search by organization, city, state, or zip code to find a CME provider (Find A CME Provider | ACCME). They have a large database of organizations including ACCME-accredited providers, state-accredited providers, and jointly accredited providers. Accreditation by ACCME allows a course to offer AMA Physician’s Recognition Awards Category 1 Credit CME. Other accreditations depending on your audience include Academy of Physician Assistants3American Academy of Physician AssociatesHomepage on the internet. Available at:.www.aapa.orgGoogle Scholar and American Nurses Credentialing Center4American Nurses Credentialing CenterHomepage on the internet. Available at:.www.nursingworld.org/anccGoogle Scholar to name a few. Accredited CME activities may register their course for MOC credits for lifelong learning, self-assessment, or improvement in medical practice.2Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Homepage on the internet. Available at:.www.accme.orgGoogle Scholar The ACCME has tried to simplify the process by creating an activity planning worksheet to assist CME planners. It lists the 14 requirements of the CME activity; in addition, the course planners are required to collect permission to share learner data with the learners’ board and offer a statement of MOC recognition. It is important to review MOC requirements as it is not standardized across the various certifying boards. The general requirements for ACCME’s CME for Maintenance of Certification Program Guide5American Nurses Credentialing CenterACCEM Publications. CME for MOC program guide. Available at:.www.accme.org/publications/cme-for-moc-program-guideGoogle Scholar are provided in Supplementary Table 1.Supplementary Table 1Maintenance of Certification GuideAttest to compliance with certifying board requirementsAgree to collect the required individual learner completion date and submit it via ACCME’s Program and Activity Reporting SystemAgree to abide by certifying board and ACCME requirements for data useAgree to allow ACCME to publish data about the activity on ACCME’s websiteAgree to comply with requests for information about the activity if it is audited by ACCME.ACCME, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education/ Open table in a new tab ACCME, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education/