Continuing medical education

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Continuing medical education (CME) or continuing professional development (CPD) consists of educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a medical practitioner uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession <ref name="ACCME handbook">Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations, July 1999</ref>.The content of CME is that body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of health care to the public.

Many regulatory bodies make a doctor's registration conditional on the acquisition of credits through following CME activities. Each state has various CME requirements for physicians who wish to maintain their licensure.

Growth in CME in recent years has come primarily from Online CME, with hundreds of websites <ref name="CME List">CMElist.com</ref> now offering a multitude of courses. According to the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education <ref name=ACCME>ACCME (2004). ACCME Annual Report 2004 (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-08-10.</ref> 72% of all physicians partcipated in some sort of online activity in 2004. The number of online participants grew 55% between 2003 and 2004. 2005 statistics are due out in July of 2006, but continued growth is expected.

As technology advances, CME is adapting and several companies are offering educational programs in various portable formats including audio podcasts and interactive modules that run on mobile handhelds and smartphones.

According to Bernard Sklar, MD, who developed and maintains the cmelist website referenced above (http://www.cmelist.com/slideshows/Summary_Review_of_June_2005.pps), some of the largest providers of online CME are eMedicine.com, Challenger (www.chall.com), Medscape.com and freeCME.com. Dr. Sklar also indicated that Doctor's Guide is a notable source for online CME.

While online CME has continued to grow in popularity for physicians seeking the convenience of remote learning, several thousand continue to search for live CME events to better take advantage of their holiday schedule. A reputable source to locate live CME conferences is www.cmeplanner.com. The online accompaniment to the monthly Physicians' Travel & Meeting Guide, the website provides an online database of CME listings available worldwide and receive detailed information about the listed events and sponsoring organizations.