CME - keeping doctors up to date
CME - Continuing Medical Education - is the system by means of which doctors keep their knowledge and skills up to date throughout their careers.
Due to ongoing advances in technology and drug development, keeping abreast of new developments is essential if doctors are to continue giving the highest possible standards of treatment to their patients, and CME plays a vital role in this process.
It is about to become even more important, however, as the new system of revalidation comes into place later this year. Under the new system, which is aimed to make doctors more accountable, physicians will be required to take a number of CME courses every year so they can demonstrate their professional development throughout their career.
With revalidation, doctors will require a licence to practise in order to treat patients, and this licence will have to be re-applied for every five years. CME will play a key role in revalidation, along with feedback from patients and colleagues, and will help to ensure that doctors do not allow their pool of skills to become stagnant.
In tandem with CME courses, doctors will also have the opportunity to take Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, which will deal with the non-medical skills that their profession requires.
In the modern NHS, doctors require a broad spectrum of abilities if they are to function at their most effective. Skills such as information technology, management, auditing and communication are tremendously important to practising doctors, and the acquisition of these skills will also be addressed by revalidation.
Overall, the new CME scheme looks set to deliver a stringent and comprehensive appraisal system that will secure the high standards of health care that we have come to expect from the medical profession.
CME: http://masterclasses.bmj.com/
Due to ongoing advances in technology and drug development, keeping abreast of new developments is essential if doctors are to continue giving the highest possible standards of treatment to their patients, and CME plays a vital role in this process.
It is about to become even more important, however, as the new system of revalidation comes into place later this year. Under the new system, which is aimed to make doctors more accountable, physicians will be required to take a number of CME courses every year so they can demonstrate their professional development throughout their career.
With revalidation, doctors will require a licence to practise in order to treat patients, and this licence will have to be re-applied for every five years. CME will play a key role in revalidation, along with feedback from patients and colleagues, and will help to ensure that doctors do not allow their pool of skills to become stagnant.
In tandem with CME courses, doctors will also have the opportunity to take Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, which will deal with the non-medical skills that their profession requires.
In the modern NHS, doctors require a broad spectrum of abilities if they are to function at their most effective. Skills such as information technology, management, auditing and communication are tremendously important to practising doctors, and the acquisition of these skills will also be addressed by revalidation.
Overall, the new CME scheme looks set to deliver a stringent and comprehensive appraisal system that will secure the high standards of health care that we have come to expect from the medical profession.
CME: http://masterclasses.bmj.com/
