CME Accreditation Guide

FOR DOCTORS ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL & TRAINING COURSES/EVENTS, DOCTORS ACADEMY PUBLISHING HOUSE AND MEMBERSHIPS

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General Guidance

Responsibility for Personal Learning
You are responsible for identifying your CPD needs, planning how those needs should be addressed and undertaking CPD that will support your professional development and practice.
Reflection
Good Medical Practice requires you to reflect regularly on your standards of medical practice.
Scope of Practice
You must remain competent and up-to-date in all areas of your practice.
Individual and Team Learning
Your CPD activities should aim to maintain and improve the standards of your own practice and also those of any teams in which you work.
Identification of Needs
Your CPD activities should be shaped by assessments of both your professional needs and the needs of the service and the people who use it.
Outcomes
You must reflect on what you have learnt through your CPD and record any impact (or expected future impact) on your performance and practice.

Introduction

In this section: 
Defining “Continuing Medical Education” and “Continuing Professional Development” 
CPD has been specifically defined by the GMC as a “continuing process, outside formal undergraduate and postgraduate training, that enables individual doctors to maintain and improve standards of medical practice through the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour. CPD should also support specific changes in practice. It covers all learning activities, both formal and informal, by which doctors keep up to date.” CME has been specifically defined by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) as “educational activities which serve 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. The content of CME is the body of knowledge and skills generally recognised 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.” It is therefore evident that both CME and CPD are important aspects of the medical appraisal system and should be recorded appropriately by an individual, for example, in a Personal Development Plan.
What is Doctors Academy CME Accreditation? 
Doctors Academy CME accreditation is a commitment to provide the highest professional standard of continued medical education in a variety of medical specialities. It ensures that the knowledge and skills imparted are of an appropriate standard to contribute to an individual's CPD. These standards are outlined in this guide in order to demonstrate how a CME accredited course, which is facilitated or endorsed by Doctors Academy, has attained this recognition of excellence and meets the criteria for awarding CME/CPD points. A individual guide is provided for each course that qualifies for CME accreditation. Information regarding the suitability of the accredited activity, the ways in which attending one of our accredited events supports the requirements of an individual's development, and the educational value of a certain event can be found in the individual course guide. Doctors Academy CME accreditation should not be confused with accreditation provided by a university or similar academic institution. It should be considered as an independent source of CME accreditation specific to medical and medical-related fields, as defined in this guide or the specific event CME guide.
Who is Doctors Academy CME aimed at? 
Doctors Academy CME is primarily aimed at doctors intending to improve their knowledge and skills in order to enhance their CPD. However, our events address a variety of specialities within the field of medicine. The knowledge and skills imparted are therefore relevant to allied medical professionals or those working in professions that contribute to the medical field. Listed below are examples of professionals who may benefit from attending our educational programmes:

Aims of CME Accreditation

CME Training Standards

In this section: 
The training standards defined in this guide are the general, qualitative characteristics that each course must possess in order to be granted CME accreditation status.
Target Audience 
 Educational Aims 
 Programme Structure and Content 
Delivery Methods 
 Supporting Material 
Faculty Qualifications and Expertise 
 
 Evaluation and Quality Assurance 
 Venue, Facilities and Amenities
 
 Third Party Sponsorship 
  Legislative and Policy Compliance 
 Administrative Arrangements 
A register of those who have attended an event must be kept for 36 months and a copy of the certification presented to a delegate must be retained for a minimum of ten years. The start date is the concluding day of the course.

Attending CME Events and Applying it to CPD

In this section: 
Applying CME 
A Doctors Academy CME accredited event can be applied to an individual's CPD in the ways described in this section. Application will depend on the type of course and its learning objectives. For specific details of the knowledge and skills gained from a certain course, the ways in which to self-accredit with the appropriate evidence, and how this can be applied to an individual's portfolio, please see the individual CME Guide relevant to the course. It is the responsibility of each individual to record any CPD that has educational value. Where an activity has not been formally approved as contributing to CPD, it is the responsibility of the individual to record the activity and document the learning achieved. Learning may reinforce existing good practice, as well as provide new knowledge. Doctors Academy CME Accredited Courses can be applied in this way since evidence can be provided in an individual's portfolio through the means of a certificate issued by the Academy. Subsequently, the appraiser will contact Doctors Academy and request that we confirm the allocated CPD where relevant. A delegate may attend a CME accredited course more than once. However, he/she will only receive a certificate of attendance for subsequent attendance and no further CME points will be awarded. Below are various activities from our events which can be considered as part of an individual's CPD via our CME Accreditation. This list is not exhaustive and is purely an example of how certain activities can be deemed relevant:
CME Types 
presentation only).
Conditions for Delegate Attendance at CME Accredited Events 

Teaching at CME Events and Applying it to your CPD

In this section: 
 Applying CME 
A Doctors Academy CME accredited event can be applied to the CPD of an individual who is teaching in the ways described in this section. Application will depend on the type of course and its learning objectives. For specific details of the knowledge and skills gained from a certain course, the ways in which to self-accredit with the appropriate evidence, and how this can be applied to an individual's portfolio, please see the individual CME Guide relevant to the course. It is the responsibility of each individual to record any CPD that has educational value. Where an activity has not been formally approved as contributing to CPD, it is the responsibility of the individual to record the activity and document the learning achieved. Learning may reinforce existing good practice, as well as provide new knowledge. Doctors Academy CME Accredited Courses can be applied in this way since evidence can be provided in an individual's portfolio through the means of a certificate issued by the Academy. Subsequently, the appraiser will contact Doctors Academy and request that we confirm the allocated CPD where relevant.

Conditions for Teaching at CME Accredited Events 

Faculty members who teach on a CME accredited course must meet the following criteria in order to receive accreditation through the means of a certificate issued upon completion of the event:

Requesting Proof of CME Accreditation

As stated in Section 3, under sub-section 3.11.1, a register of those who have attended an event will be kept for 36 months and a copy of the certification presented to a delegate will be retained for a minimum of ten years. To request a copy of this, please email:                      info@doctorsacademy.org.uk  Kindly state the following:

A replacement certificate will only be issued upon receipt of these details in order to ensure verification of the delegate.

References

  1. General Medical Council. Principles of continuing professional development. http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/continuing_professional_development/26720.asp (accessed 20 June 2015)
  2.  General Medical Council. What is CPD?  http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/continuing_professional_development/26729.asp (accessed 20 June 2015)
  3.  Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). CME Content of CME:  Definition and Examples. http://www.accme.org/requirements/accreditation-require ments-cme-providers/policies-anddefinitions/cme-content-definition-and-examples (accessed 20 June 2015)