Continuing medical education
2 min read13 pages below
This branch covers accredited continuing medical education and continuing professional development as commissioned writing work, divided by the tasks and decisions involved: accreditation and funding, independence, needs and audiences, activity design and content, delivery and evaluation. It leaves teaching medical writers, general training and assessment materials, event logistics and promotional communication to neighbouring branches.
- Accreditation, credits and the bodies that run the field — CME and CPD, credit requirements, accreditation and the organisations supporting the field
- Who commissions the work and who pays for it — providers, grantors and the writer’s engagement, grant conditions and changes in funding
- The independence rules for commercially supported education — separation of funders from content, integrity and independence standards, restrictions on a writer’s other work, and state laws and national codes
- Whether commercially funded education can be unbiased — arguments about independence and commercial support, the evidence offered and learners’ perceptions of bias
- The practice gap and the needs assessment — evidence of need, alignment with learning objectives, assessment structure, funding criteria and writing practice
- Choosing the audience and designing for more than one profession — professional groups and scopes of practice, multidisciplinary and interprofessional designs, and learning teamwork
- Designing an activity for the way clinicians learn — adult learning, measurable outcomes, formats, faculty, preparation and the design cycle
- Writing the content of an activity — learning sciences, cultural competence and the wording of clinical guideline recommendations
- Writing a teaching case — purpose, research, narrative, decision points, images and dosing details
- Keeping accredited content valid and balanced — evidence for recommendations, fair balance, source quality, brand names, supporter pressure and disclosures
- Delivering an activity online and through social media — online participation, measurement and sharing, social-media formats and delivery risks
- Setting outcome levels and evaluating an activity — the seven outcome levels, measurable results, evaluation frameworks and data sources
- Performance-improvement CME — measuring and improving clinical practice, uptake, the writer’s deliverables and physician credit