Continuing Medical Education for Physicians

Mission Statement

Purpose

The purpose of the CME Program at Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron (dba Akron Children's Hospital) is to facilitate and encourage the process of lifelong learning for physicians who care for children by offering high quality educational activities that will enhance knowledge, competence and performance in their professional practices.

 

Content

The content of the CME program will include a broad range of educational activities created from identified professional gaps that have been recognized by hospital committees, performance improvement initiatives, department/divisional leaders, community partners and contemporary medical literature.  CME activities will be designed to close these gaps by advancing knowledge, competence and/or performance.  CME activities will incorporate desired physician competencies identified by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, the American Board of Medical Specialties and the Institute of Medicine.

 

Target Audience

The target audience of the CME Program will be the institution’s physicians, providers and other healthcare professionals, and the regional and national medical communities.

 

Types of Activities

Multiple types of CME will be offered, including live activities, regularly scheduled series, specialty symposia, enduring materials and live internet activities.  Activities may be joint-sponsored with a non-accredited entity if the activity is determined to be appropriate for the program’s target audience.  To accommodate various learning styles, the educational activities may include, but would not be limited to, didactic presentations, multi-disciplinary conferences, panel discussions, small group audience interactive sessions, simulation, and group case discussions.
 

Expected Results

The CME program will allow physicians, providers and other healthcare professionals to advance their medical knowledge and competence improve performance in practice and/or improve patient outcomes.  Evaluation of the expected results may include:

• Pre/Post-activity testing to measure the acquisition of knowledge, the ability to apply a strategy to professional practice, and measure participant confidence levels.
• Identify the intention to change their practice as a result of the content of the educational activity by immediate survey and with follow-up surveys to determine if the new behaviors have been incorporated into practice as intended.
• Collaborate with Performance Improvement, Patient Safety, Simulation and other areas to identify the impact of the educational intervention(s).

The results of these measures will be reviewed to determine if expected results have been achieved.  Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron’s CME Program will be regularly evaluated to determine achievement of its mission, compliance with the accreditation criteria, determine areas of needed improvement and results of prior improvement recommendations.