Continuing medical education: AMEE Education Guide No 35

Abstract

This guide is designed to provide a foundation for developing effective continuing medical education (CME) for practicing physicians. For the purposes of this work, continuing medical education is defined as any activity which serves to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession (American Medical Association 2007; Accreditation Council for CME 2007). The term continuing professional development (CPD) is broader and has become more popular in many areas of the world. As defined by Stanton and Grant, CPD includes educational methods beyond the didactic, embodies concepts of self-directed learning and personal development and considers organizational and systemic factors (Stanton & Grant 1997). In fact, this guide describes many modalities that may be defined as CME or CPD. In the interest of simplicity, we will use the term continuing medical education (CME) throughout, with the understanding that the same strategies may be applied to non-clinical continuing professional education. For those who do not work exclusively in CME, many terms and processes may be unfamiliar. This guide is intended to provide a broad overview of the discipline of CME as well as a pragmatic approach to the practice of CME. The format provides an overview of CME including history and rationale for the discipline, followed by a practical approach to developing CME activities, the management of the overall CME programme and finally, future trends. At the end of the guide you will find resources including readings, websites and professional associations to assist in the development and management of CME programmes.

Head Nurses’ Perception of Educational Needs for Acquiring Managerial Competence at Intensive Care Units: A Qualitative Study

“…Nevertheless, providing education without examining educational requirements is unlikely to be efficient as educational needs are actually the gap between what we know and what we must know (5,6). Educational needs assessment is the best way for understanding the challenges faced by health service providers so that the most relevant instructions could be organized into their educational programs (7).…”

Le chemin de croix du développement professionnel continu (DPC)

“…Notre propos n'est pas de remettre en cause le concept de DPC, qui représente une évolution positive de la FMC et a été adopté par de nombreux pays [1,26,27]. Il s'agit de faire évoluer sa mise en oeuvre afin de l'adapter aux besoins des professionnels et pour qu'il soit un réel vecteur d'amélioration de la qualité et de la sécurité des soins pour les patients [13].…”

« La boussole de la recherche » : Une introduction à la recherche en éducation médicale : Guide AMEE n° 56

“…Par ailleurs, la recherche en éducation médicale peut éclairer la compréhension des processus d'élaboration et d'implantation des recommandations de bonne pratique, en s'intéressant au développement professionnel continu des médecins. Elle peut en effet permettre de mieux comprendre comment les professionnels de santé cherchent et assimilent de nouveaux savoirs pour, in fine, modifier leurs comportements et leurs pratiques [41,42] . Troisièmement, la recherche translationnelle dans le domaine de l'éducation médicale peut être comprise comme une recherche visant à comprendre comment l'apprentissage en amphithéâtre ou en milieu simulé se traduit en compétences dans la pratique réelle et, in fine, influence l'état de santé des patients [43] .…”