Increasing Efficiency in Continuing Medical Education with the Society for Hospital Medicine
Updated April 1, 2024
Read Time: 3 min
by Cadmium
After nearly a decade with EthosCE, the Society for Hospital Medicine still finds it to be the best platform for their needs.
The Challenge: Finding an efficient method for CME course creation
In 2016, the Society of Hospital Medicine Education Department was looking for a more efficient way to create content. As the only professional society focused on hospital medicine, their professional development program offered essential continuing medical education (CME) and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) for hospitalists.
They worked within two different platforms, manually creating courses and granting access, which they found to be inefficient and unsustainable. Time is a precious commodity and the team had to make decisions based on the lift it would take their team to create courses to decide what could and couldn’t be made. Their previous learning management system (LMS) was priced per seat, which SHM felt penalized them as they grew.
But they knew their content was valuable and they needed a platform that would accommodate their different types of classes: one-time courses, limited-time courses, and enduring courses. With that growing body of content, they also struggled to measure user engagement with their content, like insight into and tracking of learners. And finally, they knew that growth was in their future, so they searched for a better solution, an LMS that could host and grow their text- and video-based enduring content as well as the live meetings they hosted.
The Solution: An LMS tailored to the medical field
After a rigorous RFP process, they landed on EthosCE, the leading LMS for hospital systems and medical associations. One of the first things SHM noticed was how communicative the EthosCE team was. The EthosCE team understood their goals and was open and eager to talk, checking in to see how the EthosCE team could help, often anticipating issues and providing solutions and training before problems arose.
“I can’t overstate how great the team has been; one of the best LMS vendors we’ve worked with.” – Nick Marzano, Chief of Strategy
The user experience of EthosCE proved to be a big asset with the team. Learners had no trouble accessing the courses, while the SHM team found the back end of the website to be incredibly intuitive, with the SCORM integration making it simpler to author and build courses. The integrated Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) gave them insights into course activity while the Course Report allowed them to track the most popular courses, unique users active in the platform, purchases for the month, and more.
“I find EthosCE to be more intuitive than a lot of the other [solutions] we looked at.” – Jan Bowman, Associate Director of Digital Learning
Additionally, when the pandemic unexpectedly hit and gave SHM an influx of learners, they felt well-prepared to handle the load with EthosCE. Overall, the SHM team felt that with the level of communication, the clarity of the roadmap, and the value of the platform, EthosCE was the right choice and a committed partner in their growth.
“Our experience has been so positive. As we got into EthosCE, it was just one happy surprise after another about this being easy, this being better, genuinely.”
– Jan Bowman, Associate Director of Digital Learning
The Results: A growing LMS and expansion into event tech
In the subsequent years, SHM has grown their content into the large library they have today. Because the process of course creation is so much more efficient, they can now help other departments build their CME courses.
One aspect of EthosCE that SHM appreciated is the visibility of the product roadmap. They liked the ability to see what was coming and knowing that there was a plan. Associate Director of Digital Learning, Jan Bowman said, “New features make us look at what we are able to offer, and then innovate from there, as well as looking at the programs we have and trying to see, can we do this? And how do we do this?”
Previously, on a different LMS, ecommerce was handled through a clunky integration with their AMS store platform. With EthosCE’s PayPal integration, it is now much easier for SHM to stand up non-dues revenue products, which contribute to their revenue.
In the near decade since adoption, the SHM team has researched other platforms and done RFPs to make sure that they have the most up-to-date technology available, but they continue to stay with EthosCE.
“I feel like it really builds our confidence in that. We know that EthosCE is the best platform for us, because we confirm it.” – Jan Bowman, Associate Director of Digital Learning
About the Society for Hospital Medicine
Founded in 1997, the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM) is the only professional society focused on hospitalists and hospital medicine. The society’s mission includes advocating for their specialty, members, and patients; promoting better care and outcomes; meeting educational needs; cultivating a community; and advancing the research and innovation of their healthcare delivery. They share updates with members and the industry through their monthly newsmagazine, The Hospitalist, and a peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
About Cadmium
Cadmium believes in the pivotal role of learning experiences for individual and community growth. Positioned at the convergence of event, learning, and video technology, Cadmium offers an integrated suite of applications streamlining event management and continuing education. Cadmium’s product offering collectively paves the way for new revenue streams, business growth, and community enrichment. Cadmium’s EthosCE product serves as the trusted learning management system for healthcare professionals managing the complexities of continuing healthcare education.
EthosCE is the learning management system healthcare professionals around the world trust to manage the complexities of continuing healthcare education. Schedule a demo to learn more today.