Spotlight: Continuing Medical Education

Spotlight: Continuing Medical Education

Gaurav Chaturvedi (right), instructor, department of medicine, participates in a Hospitalists procedures lab offered through A feinberg school of medicine CME program.

Medical education is a lifelong process that is necessary to maintain certifications and state licensures to practice medicine. The Feinberg School of Medicine Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME) offers almost 250 educational activities each year to physicians and others involved in healthcare delivery in Chicago, the Midwest and across the United States.

These learning opportunities range from didactic lectures to hands-on workshops featuring the latest technology. Programs encourage self assessment and self reflection, and remind physicians of their professional accountability.

Physicians choose their CME activities based on their needs, individual learning styles and practice requirements.

Genevieve Napier, director of the CME office at Feinberg, is proud of the variety and volume of programs offered by the medical school.

“There are 727 accredited CME providers in the U.S.,” Napier said. “Only about 4 percent of these institutions issue more CME credit than the Feinberg School of Medicine, and only 6 percent have a higher number of participants at their accredited programs.”

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) accredits Northwestern University’s CME program. As a CME provider, Feinberg assists in the accreditation process for continuing medical education conferences initiated by the medical school and its affiliates: Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Children’s Memorial Hospital, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center.

In 2008, the Office of CME issued the credits for 54,188 learners. The medical school accredits a variety of programs — from departmental meetings, such as grand rounds, to conferences that focus on echocardiography, vascular surgery and internal medicine which have been hosted by the medical school for more than 30 years. Eighty percent of the credits issued for 2008 were associated with the school’s accredited department meetings.