To Evaluate the Outcome of a Nationwide Continuing Medical Education Program Initiated by Health Care Authorities in Taiwan

Abstract

Complying with the core values of Taiwan Medical Association, a large nationwide project ”Holistic Care-Conference on Patient Safety and Quality of Care” as continuing medical education (CME) credit course was initiated. Department of Health provided a portion of the funding for this project, and several health care institutions and medical associations provided assistance for administrative issues. This nationwide CME project encompassed urban regions, rural regions and remote islands by providing internet-assisted real-time CME credit courses. We conducted this study to examine the topic and educational content of each CME credit course provided by the ”Holistic Care-Conference on Patient Safety and Quality of Care” project, to compare the topics and educational contents of all CME credit courses provided by the ”Holistic Care-Conference on Patient Safety and Quality of Care” project with those initiated by all other health care institutions, and to investigate the characteristics of participants and speakers. By analyzing the nationwide data set for CME courses initiated by Taiwan Medical Association and then in part financially supported by Department of Health Executive Yuan, we discovered that an increasing number of health care workers joined the internet-assisted real-time CME courses after the project began because of increased technical support. The courses in which participants shared their opinions simultaneously functioned effectively in providing opportunities to health care workers not only in urban regions, but also those affiliated with health care institutions located in rural regions and remote islands where CME courses are not as easily accessible.