CURRENT ISSUE
BACK ISSUES
SUBSCRIBE
ADVERTISE
ABOUT JCEHP
FOR AUTHORS
JCEHP AWARD
SEARCH
(Members only) FULL-TEXT
|
|
Volume 21 (3)
Volume 21, Issue 3, Summer 2001
J Contin Educ Health Prof 2001; 21(3):182-186
INNOVATIONS IN CONTINUING EDUCATION
American Medical Association and American Osteopathic Association credit systems: accomplishing dual credit for a conference
Plungas GS
Tulgan H
DeMarco WJ
Aghababian RV
A b s t r a c t
The need for collaboration in medical education is increasingly evident as allopathic and osteopathic physician communities continue to train physicians cooperatively. Therefore, ventures that hold dual accreditation in continuing medical education (CME) have increasing appeal to both physician groups. The Berkshire Medical Conference, a nationally accredited CME activity held annually in western Massachusetts and cosponsored by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Berkshire Medical Center, and Berkshire Area Health Education Center, offered dual accreditation to allopathic and osteopathic physicians for the first time in its 16-year history. This dually accredited conference is the first such collaborative venture in the region. The specific criteria for accreditation for both physician groups were fulfilled, and the content also proved to be equally relevant. Evaluations indicated that learning objectives were met and the collaboration was successful in terms of the information learned by and about each group of physicians. As collaborative CME activities develop in the medical community, it is hoped that the lessons learned from the 16th Annual Berkshire Medical Conference, "Collaborations in Medicine," will serve as a model for future conferences and cooperative ventures between allopathic and osteopathic physicians.
Lessons for Practice
- Separate accreditation processes may
inhibit collaborative CME activities.
- Despite the growing collaborative training
of allopathic and osteopathic
physicians, dually accredited conferences
still require parallel accreditation
requirements to be fulfilled.
- Changes in current American
Osteopathic Association accreditation
requirements regarding the percent-age
of MD/DO faculty may help
facilitate collaborative conferences.
- More discussion is needed to explore
issues related to the dual accreditation
of CME conferences.
MeSH Terms: Accreditation; American Medical Association; Cooperative Behavior; Education, Medical, Continuing; Interinstitutional Relations; Osteopathic Medicine; Societies, Medical
|