Overview

STANDARDS FOR COMMERCIAL SUPPORT
The Standards for Commercial Support were developed to ensure independence in CME activities. There are six standards:

Standard 1: Independence
Standard 2: Resolution of Personal Conflicts of Interest
Standard 3: Appropriate Use of Commercial Support
Standard 4: Appropriate Management of Associated Commercial Promotion
Standard 5: Content and Format without Commercial Bias
Standard 6: Disclosures Relevant to Potential Commercial Bias

To view the details of these standards, visit this site:
http://www.accme.org/index.cfm/fa/home.home/home.cfm

MCG DIVISION OF CONTINUING EDUCATION MISSION STATEMENT
 To serve Georgia's citizens by educatins its health care professionals

The mission of the Division of Continuing Education (MCG CE) is to provide quality professional educational activities that are scientifically rigorous, balanced, objective and unbiased to assist practicing health care professionals in the translation, diffusion and application of evidence –based knowledge in order to improve patient safety and enhance clinical outcomes.

Purpose: The purpose of the Division of Continuing Education is to provide educational activities that address strategic healthcare needs by offering comprehensive lifelong learning activities with the goal of continuously improving participant competence in order to enhance patient care and reduce the burden of illness on society.  The unit’s overall goal is to take exceptional scientists and content experts and help them to become superior communicators and educators who provide opportunities through continuing education activities to enhance the skills of health care providers

Content Areas:  The content areas covered by MCG CE include topics encompassing a broad variety of subjects.  MCG CE offers activities that are designed to bring the most recent peer- reviewed research and evidence-based standards of care to healthcare professionals in Georgia, the Southeast, the nation and the world.  The content areas include topics directly pertaining to the following:

• Critical healthcare needs identified by the Joint Commission

• Critical healthcare needs within the state of Georgia and the Southeast Region

• MCG’s Strategic Themes

• Updates in Clinical Medicine

• Reviews of Best Practices information for clinical care

• Professional development in leadership and patient safety

• Patient and Family Centered Care initiatives

• Quality Improvement

The Division of Continuing Education provides educational activities that address MCG’s Education Initiative and priority “to continuously enhance the quality of the educational programs to address the changing health care environment.”

Target Audience:  In accordance with the mission statement of MCG, the target audience for the Division of Continuing Education’s activities is defined as our own institutional healthcare providers as well as local, regional and national healthcare providers.

Types of Activities:   MCG’s Division of CE offers a variety of educational activities including traditional live activities, jointly sponsored live activities, enduring materials, regularly scheduled series, journal clubs and podcasts. Through thoughtful planning, each activity is designed to best meet the participants needs by carefully considering the instructional method and learning format that will produce the desired result of the educational offering.

Scope:   MCG CE’s scope includes the accreditation of regularly scheduled conferences, annual specialty updates, jointly sponsored events and regional community hospital events.

Expected Results:  MCG CE expects to:

• Plan activities in conjunction with MCG faculty that address the learning needs of the MCG CE audience and that address the health status indicators of the citizens of Georgia

• Offer continuing medical education free of commercial bias and independent of commercial input

• Promote the practice of evidence-based medicine

• Assist in the dissemination of new medical knowledge

• Enhance participants’ confidence in their skill levels

• Assist in the maintenance of professional certification and licensure

• Collaborate across the continuum of medical education

• Contribute to the healthcare professions through service, education and training of participants, activity faculty and course directors

• Showcase clinical excellence and educational excellence within the Medical College of Georgia Health System

• Include linkage to the physician competencies identified by the American Board of Medical Specialties ( patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and system based practice) into activities presented by the unit

• Include Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization’s (JCAHO) patient safety goals and core measurements in designing continuing education activities

• Engage in community outreach by providing CME in community hospitals across Georgia

• Work collaboratively with Area Health Education Centers in Georgia to reach Georgia’s rural health care professionals

• Assist other institutions in the University System of Georgia in providing appropriate CME opportunities to address the rapidly expanding numbers of geriatric patients to be served in the state

• Increase asynchronous learning opportunities for busy healthcare providers in rural areas whose time away from the office is limited

• Provide discussion groups for physicians attending live conferences who wish to communicate with each other in private settings about diagnosis and treatment strategies for patients.