Several years ago the Center for Continuing Medical Education (CCME) instituted the CME Activity Proposal for Consideration process as a means by which planners could articulate the information vital to an educational activity for physicians allowing it to be certified for Category 1 PRA AMA credit. While the Proposal is often regarded as a substitute for a CCME staff member participating directly with the planners, it does not replace the guidance that an involved CCME staff person can provide.
The objective of the Proposal is to organize the planning process by responding to an outline of inquiry that results in an orderly development of a CME activity. All too often planners layout the activity agenda before assessing the educational need, practice gaps, and expected results for the proposed activity. Or these needs, gaps and results have been recognized but not formalized as part of the planning process. The first step in the planning process is submitted using the CME Proposal Phase 1 – Live Activities document (https://go.osu.edu/proposalphase1liveactivities). In this step planners provide the title of the proposed activity, list the planners and define the intended audience. Along with CME Proposal Phase 1 planners must submit financial disclosures even if they have no relevant commercial relationships. Planners with relevant commercial relationships must have these relationships mitigated by a peer planner without commercial relationships at the direction of the responsible CCME staff member. The mitigation process will establish the limitations in planning for any conflicted planner.
Once all planner disclosures are received and any necessary mitigation has been conducted Proposal Phase2 is sent to the course director. In Proposal Part 2 planners describe why this audience needs the proposed education – that is, what is their “professional practice gap(s)”. And by outlining the educational deficits – gaps – of the audience, planners are better able to assess the educational needs and define their expectations – objectives – for the activity.
We recommend following in order the steps listed below to insure a well-planned CME activity:
- Recognize a known practice gap or need for educational intervention among a specific group of healthcare practitioners.
- Organize a group of planners that can expand and expound on this practice gap.
- Insure through the conflict of interest process that all planners can contribute to the planning process without implications of potential bias by setting limits to the contribution of planners with relevant commercial relationships.
- Define the audience that is known to have the practice gaps being considered.
- List and use respected resources to define the educational needs of the target audience – the personal observations of the planners are not sufficient verification of educational needs.
- Determine what the learner should accomplish by participating in the educational activity.
- Using these resources and the planned results, begin to outline topics that will help learners to overcome their practice gaps by improving their medical knowledge, describing methods for developing their competence, and/or demonstrating how patient care may be improved.
The ultimate goal of a Category 1 CME activity is to improve patient outcomes and this may happen when a well-planned activity improves physician’s knowledge, competence, and/or performance.