CME Annual Report 2006 - Continuing Medical Education ...

acadeMIc PrograMs
CME Annual Report
registration hours 2006/2007
Family physicians specialists
Cosponsored Activities 2427 1821
Community Hospital Program 1251 676
Videoconferenced Programs 287 46
Academic Detailing Service 338 1
Building a Better Tomorrow Initiative 6 0
Management Program for Clinical Leaders 90 630
The Office of Continuing Medical Education is a full
academic unit of the Faculty of Medicine. Its activities
include the traditional teaching and research functions
expected of all faculty departments. Major teaching programs
include the Community Hospital Program, Short
Courses, Academic Detailing, the Management Program
for Clinical Leaders and Clinical Traineeships. Distance
formats, including videoconferencing and Internet-based
programs, provide an increasingly important means of
serving the educational needs of physicians while overcoming
some barriers to participation in more traditional
programs. A high priority is given to research activities
related to continuing medical education.
In academic 2006/2007, 836 family physicians and 394
specialists earned approximately 15900 hours of CME
credit in programs accredited by Dalhousie CME.
Community Hospital Program
academic
year
programs
program
hours
reported
attendance 1
2004-05 105 150.0 950
2005-06 118 164.5 1888
2006-07 135 186.0 2306
1 includes non-physician attendance
The 14 community physician-coordinators who form the
Nova Scotia CME Community Network continued to
work with Dalhousie CME to plan and deliver accredited
CME within their own communities. The table above
summarizes all community CME programming, excluding
videoconferencing, for the past three years.
Most programs involve a Halifax specialist travelling to
the community for a one or two-hour presentation and
discussion with community physicians. However, an important
benefit of the network is that locally-generated
programs such as rounds are accredited through Dalhousie
CME with the involvement of the physician-coordinators.
Funding for this program is provided by Doctors
Nova Scotia, with some assistance from industry.
Additional detail, including the list of physician-coordinators,
is provided in Appendix A.
Videoconferencing
Since 1999, videoconferencing equipment has been available
in every hospital in the province, enabling us to provide
a province-wide videoconferenced CME program.
Funding reductions have necessitated reductions in the
number of regular programs provided, and the combination
of participating sites into larger groups. However,
this series continued to flourish in 2006/07, with
thirty-six sites involved, each offered seven hour-long
video conferences. In total, we presented 35 programs,
with reported attendance of 334 physicians and 66 other
health care professionals. Videoconferencing plays an
important role in providing educational opportunities to
community physicians, particularly in small, remote locations
where there is little, if any, other formal CME. Community
physicians help select the topics and develop the
videoconference schedule. This series is funded by Doctors
Nova Scotia, with the Nova Scotia Department of
Health covering telecommunication costs through the
Nova Scotia Telehealth Network. Some industry support
is also provided.
In addition to this regular videoconferenced CME program,
in 2006/07 we offered a series of six sessions designed
specifically for general internists, a pilot program
also supported by Doctors Nova Scotia. See page 7.
Additional detail is provided in Appendix B.
Short Courses and Conferences
The departments and divisions of the Faculty of Medicine
have been very helpful in planning and providing
teaching resources. Our three large annual meetings
were again very well attended and highly evaluated. Both
the Annual Dalhousie Refresher Course and the February
Refresher (Emergency Medicine) had record-breaking
attendance, with 322 and 275 participants, respectively.
Attendance at the multi-disciplinary Atlantic Canada