Whether you are an accredited provider such as i3 Health or you are an educational partner working with an accredited provider, it's still important to understand the criteria that underlie continuing medical education (CME) activities. This is part of a periodic series of posts looking at what each criterion means in general and what it might mean for you.
The third set of ACCME commendation criteria are focused on skills and skills-based learning. "Enhances Skills" contains four criteria, all of which may or may not be easily attainable depending on the organization in which you provide education.
Optimizes Communication Skills (formerly C29) states:
The provider designs CME to optimize communication skills of learners.
At first glance, "communication" seems quite simple. It's all about bedside manner, right? But the ACCME takes a broader view. Communication is not just in person; it also occurs in writing. How clearly written are those discharge orders? What about the radiology report that's mailed after a mammogram? Those are also forms of communication between a provider and a patient. Education about communication skills could focus on those incredibly important in-person interactions, but it could also focus on the equally important written interactions.
There are three critical elements in this criterion.
To achieve this criterion, you must show anywhere from two to eight activities, depending on the size of your program. There is no minimum percentage of activities that should be focused on communication skills, which does make the standard slightly simpler than some of the other criteria we've covered. The difficulty of achieving this criterion comes from whether or not your program is structured in a way that allows facilitators to observe and provide formative feedback. Summative feedback that occurs at the end of an activity is fairly simple. We do that all the time with posttests. Formative feedback takes some work and a lot of advanced planning. But if you are in a position to design these activities, the value they bring to learners cannot be denied. You don't even have to show that the activity was effective although it's hard to imagine that participation in an activity that meets the critical elements won't impart something about how to improve their communication skills.
Other Posts in This Series
CME Mission and Program Improvement
Educational Planning and Evaluation
Promotes Team-Based Education
Addresses Public Health Priorities
References
ACCME (2020). Accreditation Criteria. Available at: https://www.accme.org/accreditation-rules/accreditation-criteria
ACCME (2021). Optimizes Communication Skills. Available at: https://www.accme.org/accreditation-rules/accreditation-criteria/optimizes-communication-skills
Image credit: Selena Wilke. Licensed under public domain