Newsletter May 2012 - European Hematology Association

2011 European CME Survey Report
To what extent is CME necessary for relicensing or career development in Europe? The answer
to this question, one of many in a survey conducted by EHA in 2011, is that there is considerable
heterogeneity in Europe in terms of the national requirements for CME.
> EHA spends a great deal of its time developing and delivering
high quality medical education – the Annual Congress of
EHA, webcasts, podcasts, tutorials, workshops, EHA-Tol, TRTH,
Masterclass and the CV Passport illustrate the breadth of the
program. EHA also believes strongly that as many of its
educational activities as possible should be CME accreditable.
By setting the bar as high as possible, in terms of the quality of
its own education, EHA is promoting CME and helping national
societies to apply pressure on their national health authorities
to increase the importance and validity of CME in their country.
This is one of the reasons why EHA has an independent CME
Unit, whose task it is to review appli ca tions from event
organizers for accreditation according to very strict standards
and guidelines (available from http://cme.ehaweb.org). Participants
are equally able to claim their EHA-CME credits online
and print certificates for the purpose of relicensing or adding to
their CV portfolio.
8 > EHA Newsletter November 2012
In April 2008, UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists)
published a review of the development and structure of
Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development
in Europe. It included an overview of the value of CME in the
individual countries of Europe, as well as an indication of the
value of national CME points and whether or not accreditation
by the accreditation body of UEMS, EACCME. EHA conducted
its own survey during this period and decided in April 2011,
that a new survey should be developed and sent out to
European countries, in order to investigate their individual
CME practices. Responses were received from 16 of the 22
countries approached. Of these, 7 out of 16 stated they had
mandatory (national) CME. CME was also reported as being
mandatory in 2008 in the 6 countries, whose responses we did
not receive. The fact remains that the extent of enforcement of
so-called mandatory CME is not clear, which is perhaps why
some doctors are still sceptical about CME.
One reason may be that, according to our
survey, there is a lack of monitoring and
evaluation of CME credits in some countries,
which may discourage some hematologists from
claiming. For instance, one of the countries that
responded said that, although CME is
mandatory, the processes of verification and
monitoring have not been clearly defined. Also,
in the majority of respondent countries, the
responsibility for classifying an activity as
educational lies with the national authorities,
although the type of authority varies greatly.
Nevertheless, the overriding message in
European hematology is that CME is becoming
increasingly important and better organized. So,
how can this trend be continued?
For several countries it would be helpful to have
a clearly defined role for credits in the process of CME, which
are respected by all EU countries. Therefore, improving the
quality of EHA-CME accreditation and promoting the value of
EHA-CME credits across Europe, so that more countries take
them into account towards relicensing, would be a step in the
right direction. Equally, since half the survey respondents said
there is no CME monitoring system in their country, it seems
appropriate for the EHA-CME Unit to become more active in
this area. By supporting event organizers in their activities, as
well as in the enforcement of our Standards and Guidelines
and offering provider status when they are successful, EHA and
EHA-CME are sending a signal to national and European
authorities that we take the business of CME very seriously. In
order to help achieve this goal, EHA-CME is making
improvements to its system (more user-friendly and
increasingly automized), clarifying its Standards and Guidelines
for event organizers, simplifying and adding value to its online
claiming questionnaire and introducing an audit form for event
inspection. We hope that, by doing so, more hematologists will
Come, Meet and Engage!
EHA Newsletter November 2012 > 9