Doctors and nurses commit to staying abreast of the latest developments in their field by actively meeting the requirements of continuing medical education (CME) for their profession. The law and professional standards recognized long ago the importance of medical professionals exercising and growing their skills.
Historically, though, that hasn’t been easy. CME typically involved attending conferences or spending days in classrooms listening to lectures and studying chapters in books. Coordinators also found it difficult to know when they were having an impact. Assessing the retention of traditional learning is nearly impossible.
With the advent of learning management systems (LMS), the landscape for CME has changed, turning ongoing career learning into a more dynamic and exciting process. This bodes well for CME coordinators, as it also offers the potential for streamlining their tasks and enabling them to work more efficiently.
Since the growing capabilities of telecommunications enable us to connect from anywhere, classes can now be taken at any time—in the workplace, at home, or on the go.
LMS's are providing new ways of improving impact of CME on physicians through new portfolios of learning experiences made up of interactive curricular opportunities that enable professionals to improve their skill sets.
Improving Impact of CME on Physicians
One-size-fits-all solutions for continuing medical education just don’t make sense in an age of specialization. With the diversity in the health profession, it’s challenging for CME coordinators to provide something for everyone, given the diversity of the field.
Here are a few strategies for improving impact of CME on physicians.
Improved accessibility and reach
CME can prove difficult for a large and growing health system, with doctors in multiple locations and working in multiple professions. The trend toward remote learning is increasingly best addressed through flexible CME programs developed on an LMS backbone.
Those types of programs are ideal for providing remote learning opportunities, as you can reach your doctors, nurses, and other professionals no matter where they are. Even better, this approach gives them the flexibility to log in where and when it's convenient.
Doctors, nurses, and other learners can take their classes or absorb their lessons on the devices that most suit them where they are, whether that’s on a cellphone, a laptop, or even a television.
Improving the impact of CME on physicians also makes programs more accessible by offering a greater variety of learning formats. With the right LMS technology backbone, you can use your system solution to develop and provide educational materials in different forms. The choice is then up to the learner.
Enhanced engagement and knowledge retention
Digital learning environments differentiate themselves from traditional learning through experiences offering interactivity. This can take on multiple forms and may be limited only by your creativity or program requirements. For example, the AMA offers instruction in many formats across numerous specialties.
An LMS simplifies the process of creating content that highlights the system’s capabilities to produce learning in different and more engaging formats, such as video.
CME coordinators can take the technology and move it into more ambitious territory by developing curricula that use the best gaming elements to encourage competition and motivation. Learners almost always go farther when they have an opportunity to “win,” especially if winning comes with a prize!
Video and imagery are vital. The effectiveness of multimedia content has long been proven as a way of grabbing the reader’s attention and refusing to let it go. It creates more of a personal connection and triggers the mind to be more attentive and mindful of the material.
Gamification can take on many forms, depending on the system’s capabilities. You can use it to develop quizzes, assessments, and case studies to help reinforce knowledge gain, for instance.
Digital learning management systems also allow for real-time interactivity through the creation of other person-based based opportunities, such as hosting discussion rooms or bringing in guest speakers via that platform.
Personalized learning experiences
LMS are improving the impact of CME on physicians by personalizing the learning experience. Doctors and nurses and other professionals are increasingly able to access CME offerings that are geared toward their unique position in the profession and their careers.
This technology empowers coordinators to create customized learning paths tailored to the specialty and level of the individual learner. The materials are focused on areas where they most need to show improvement.
One example of the flexibility of an LMS is adaptive assessments. Rather than assuming that everyone needs to be tested on the same material, these allow for learning vehicles that adjust in difficulty depending on the user’s performance. The better the user does, the harder the questions they face.
These new systems can also personalize learning through content recommendations, similar to how streaming music and video services deliver movie and artist recommendations. Personalization also evolves from progress tracking and reporting.
Streamline Workflow and Grow CME Impact with EthosCE
Accelerate the benefits of LMS for improving impact of CME on physicians by working with EthosCE by Cadmium. It’s the leading LMS for medical associations, academic medical centers, health systems, and medical education companies to drive better outcomes.
The system enables you to easily manage accreditation requirements to increase compliance. It also empowers your learners because they can print certificates, update records, or experience other elements of the learning experience themselves.
Learners can advance their achievements in CME by taking advantage of a simple, clean user interface that’s accessible across multiple platforms. As the coordinator, you can also improve productivity by using templates that reduce the time to create courses.
At EthosCE, we understand the challenges of creating effective CME programming. We also know how critical it is to find effective ways to make an impact on learners in a busy, modern world. Contact us today to learn more.
