Frequently Asked Questions
What Do We Mean By?
Please see the Accreditation Council for Continuing
Medical Education (ACCME) "Standards
for Commercial Support".
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Circumstances create a conflict of interest when an
individual has an opportunity to affect CME content about
products or services of a commercial interest with which
he/she has a financial relationship.
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Commercial Support is financial, or in-kind
contributions given by a commercial interest (e.g., any
entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing
health care goods or services consumed by, or used on,
patients), which is used to pay all or part of the costs of
a CME activity.
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Every CME activity needs to be developed in the context
of and or address a desirable physician attribute
(competence). Please click to review some examples of
"desirable
physician attributes" as noted by the ACCME.
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Direct Sponsorship applies to activities sponsored
by a department or division of the University of Connecticut
Health Center or sponsored by a Health Center department or division
and another ACCME-accredited institution. Whereas Joint
Sponsorship applies to activities sponsored by a non-ACCME
accredited organization outside of the Health Center.
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Enduring materials are printed, recorded, or computer
assisted instructional materials which may be used overtime
at various locations and which in themselves constitutes a
planned CME activity.
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Each CME activity must include a formal evaluation
mechanism in which participants complete a set of standard
questions. Once the evaluations are summarized, the
information will provide insight into a programs impact. It
will serve many purposes, such as:
- Helping to determine if the activity was of value,
- helping an activity director make good choices about
future topics and speakers,
- measuring transference of knowledge and information,
- providing feedback to program planners, managers, and
faculty; and
- assisting in gaining knowledge of your participants
skill levels and changes in their practice habits.
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Commercial exhibits and advertisements are promotional
activities and not continuing medical education. Therefore,
monies paid by commercial interests to providers for these
promotional activities are not considered to be ‘commercial
support’.
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Financial relationships are those relationships in which
the individual benefits by receiving a salary, royalty,
intellectual property rights, consulting fee, honoraria,
ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options or other
ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or
other financial benefit. Financial benefits are usually
associated with roles such as employment, management
position, independent contractor (including contracted
research), consulting, speaking and teaching, membership on
advisory committees or review panels, board membership, and
other activities from which remuneration is received, or
expected. ACCME considers relationships of the person
involved in the CME activity to include financial
relationships of a spouse or partner.
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Learning objectives are statements that communicate the
intent of an educational activity.
Here are some guidelines for you to review. They
tell the attendee what she/he will gain by participating in
the experience. Every CME activity must have one or more
learning objective which is reflective of information
obtained by way of the needs assessment.
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A needs assessment is any systematic approach to collecting
and analyzing information about the educational needs of
individuals or an organization. Needs may be perceived,
imagined, desired or thought to be important or real.
A needs
assessment can also be indentified as a gap, the difference
or distance between what is occurring in practice and what
is expected (the desired outcome), or, the difference
between what is and what should be. It’s this step that’s
used to help achieve an effective CME activity and set the
stage for the development of the learning objectives.
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Professional practice gap is the difference between
actual and ideal performance and or patient outcomes.
As CME content goes beyond issues of direct patient care the
ACCME is using professional practice gap to refer to a
quality gap in areas that include but also can go beyond
patient care (e.g., systems' base practice, informatics,
leadership and administration).
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A "Save the Date" is a notice that's sent out prior to an
activity informing perspective participants of an upcoming
event. If sent out prior to CME application submission
and approval, it can not contain any mention of CME and or
that CME credits have been applied for. Within these
circumstances, it does not need to be pre-approved by the
CME Office.
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A sponsor is an institution or organization
assuming responsibility for CME. Whereas a supporter is an
institution or organization that provided funds to a program
in the form of an educational grant also known as a
commercial supporter.
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