New Partners CPD/CME Office Supports Health Care Providers with Education Programs
After several years of planning, Partners HealthCare has launched the Office of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to support health care professionals coordinating educational programs that improve quality, safety and outcomes in patient care. The name of the office reflects the newest designation for what was traditionally referred to as Continuing Medical Education (CME) programming.
"The creative tools developed by the Office of Professional Development will support our physicians and other professionals in translating science into care while improving the effectiveness of the services we provide," said Partners President and CEO Gary Gottlieb, MD. "Simultaneously, the office will help to nurture their essential need for life-long learning and growth."
Through this office, Partners is now accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to designate AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM for activities that meet ACCME requirements.
"We support education for physicians and other health care providers that improves clinical decision-making, enhances patient management strategy, interprets new clinically-relevant findings and analyzes health policy." said Robert J. Birnbaum, MD, PhD, director of Partners CPD Office. "We are committed to providing easily accessible accreditation and related services for traditional education courses and innovations in teaching that respond to our changing health care environment". Physicians are encouraged to work with the office to develop, implement and ensure a program meets the criteria for CPD (formally CME) credits.
Christopher Bono, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and chief of the Spine Service at BWH, recently completed the development of a program in partnership with the Partners CPD Office. "From start to finish, this was the fastest process I've experienced in terms of getting approval, developing the idea and creating the course," he said. "The CPD team laid out a blueprint of what was required and helped us set the goals for the program, and then the Spine Service put the content of the program together."
As the first online CPD program for the Spine Service, the course included videotaped lectures and slides from neurosurgeons, a physiatrist and an anesthesiologist. The format of most CPD programs for the Spine Service has been live meetings, and this online program enabled physicians to complete the program at a time convenient for them.
"The Continuing Professional Development team was great," said Bono, who served as course director. "I would welcome the opportunity to work with them again in the future."
The Partners CPD Office will work with physicians to obtain CPD accreditation for new types of programs, including video-based courses and simulation.
"The process of designing and executing an education program that meets ACCME requirements has become more rigorous, we want to partner with PHS health care providers to make that process as manageable as possible so that they can focus on providing state-of-the-art content to their colleagues at Partners and beyond ," said Catherine Flood, RN, project manager for the Partners CPD Office.
To learn more about Partners CPD, visit www.partners.org/Medical-Education/CME/Default.aspx