In Recognition of Outstanding Innovation in Continuing Professional Development for CME Professionals
Laird Kelly, CCMEP, Treasurer, National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals and President, RSi/FocalSearch
Validating Competence on the Ground Floor—The Certified CME Professional Program
Much criticism has been directed toward the CME profession and CME professionals in the past few years. Some of this has come from within our ranks and some from outside. Some criticism has been based on thoughtful consideration of our field and much has come from outsiders who are half-informed, at best. There has been confusion, even among the medical profession, of the character and intent of CME programming and the value of CME. As outlined by numerous speakers at the 2009 Alliance Annual Conference, there will be numerous scholarly reports and recommendations issued this year on the regulation or control of the production of CME programming. Less attention is being paid, in any formal way, to a very important question—Who is actually producing the programming? Many feel that setting of standards for the flow of funds supporting content development assures relevant, well produced programming will result. However, even major academic centers have limited staff time to personally prepare programs, so they often use outside agencies or individuals to prepare and coordinate the content and its presentation.
The National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals (NC-CME) was created in 2005 and has set its focus on these people on the ground floor of CME—the women and men who throughout the US are doing the work of CME: assembling the faculties, guiding the agendas, and preparing and executing the programming. These responsibilities are significant and impactful. Recognition of the commitments and abilities of the many individuals responsible for CME programming could only augment their efforts. Professional competence in CME should be encouraged at all employment levels in the CME enterprise, regardless of whether it is a part-time practitioner in a small hospital, a full-time faculty member at an academic center, or one of a staff of fifty at a major medical education company.
NC-CME, a nonprofit organization, under the leadership of its first President and now Executive Director, Judy Ribble, PhD, CCMEP, met its goal of establishing a measurable reference credential for practitioners in the field. While previously there had been awards for work of distinction, such as the Alliance Fellows program, there was no basic credential that employers could use to distinguish an individual's years of time in grade versus their real understanding of the important skills needed to produce quality,
compliant programming.
NC-CME began its work by joining the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA), a membership organization that approves the credentials of groups that offer certification exams. NC-CME is on track to become accredited itself, as it moves through the required stages of growth. One of the principles learned through NOCA and adopted by NC-CME is that professional competence is measured in three ways: Experience, Education and Examination. Applicants for the CCMEP™ exam submit an online application, based on a multi-level self-assessment detailing their experience and education, both formal schooling and informal through participation in continuing professional development (CPD) such as Alliance meetings, webinars, certificate programs and sessions held by others in the field. Points are given for these activities, along with additional points for participating in a leadership role. Those with an adequate number of points are approved to sit for the exam. (Typically, someone who has been in CME for two to three years, has attended one or more annual meetings and, in general, worked to stay current in the field has adequate points to proceed.)
CME is a complex profession, practiced in diverse circumstances. It was a challenge to produce an exam that fairly measures competence across a variety of work settings and assignments. The NC-CME Executive Committee solicited proposals from numerous professional testing organizations, awarding its contract to Schroeder Measurement Technologies (SMT). The value of collaborating with SMT can not be over stated. As a distinguished group of psychometricians with extensive experience in the creation and validation of certification exams, SMT provided the NC-CME Executive Committee with guidance and services that ensured that the nature and quality of the NC-CME examination was equivalent to that of other professional certification programs. The first step in creating a competent exam is to determine, in detail, exactly what CME professionals do. Starting with the Alliance Competencies, a group of thirteen subject matter experts developed a list of 75 tasks or elements of information useful in the skill set of a professional.
A survey was then conducted to professionals across the work spectrum. There were 272 valid, completed surveys returned, from professionals representing all aspects of CME practice. The 75 knowledge/skill items were ranked according to their relevance and, based on ranking, allocations were made for the domains of the exam. The following emphases were determined for the exam:
| Adult Learning Principles | | 15% |
| Educational Interventions | | 30% |
| Relationships with Stakeholders | | 10% |
| Leadership/Administration/Management | | 25% |
| The CME Environment | | 20% |
Details on the knowledge/skills set components of these domains can be found on the web at: www.nc-cme.org, under the slides section, in a presentation entitled What CME Professionals Do. Once the domains were determined, exam questions were written by sixteen CME professionals in a three-day workshop conducted by Schroeder. Exam questions were validated, beta-tested, re-validated and set for inclusion in the exam. Tests are now offered at more than 200 sites nationally the last two weeks of March, June, September and the entire month of December. Since its initial offering in the summer of 2008, nearly two hundred professionals have earned the CCMEP™ designation.
The Board of NC-CME was honored and gratified to receive the Award for Innovation in Continuing Professional Development from the Alliance. We look forward to continued collaboration with the Alliance and other organizations within the profession to assure that those entrusted with responsibility for CME are certified to be able to perform their duties. We believe that everyone in this fast-moving field should periodically take time to review the rules and regulations, attend conferences and re-read important papers on topics such as adult learning and instructional design. Whether you engage in review and reflection as an individual activity or in preparation for certification or re-certification, you will always benefit through your own commitment to lifelong learning. |
INDUSTRY NEWS