CONTINUING EDUCATION

PRINCIPLES OF CONTINUING EDUCATION

Continuous Medical Education (CME) refers to education after certification and licensure and is the final part of the Education continuum. It was the first approach of adapting competence of medical practitioners to the evolution of medical knowledge. It relied initially on teacher driven training of practicing medical doctors through various traditional or more innovative university or non-university channels. Providers are indeed academic groups, professional associations, pharmaceutical industry and health care institutions committed to producing and delivering educational activities in order to maintain a competent medical and public health workforce and improve the health of both patients and populations.

 Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is generally defined as the conscious updating of professional knowledge and the improvement of professional competence throughout a person's working life. In Medicine, it is the process by which health professionals keep updated to meet the needs of patients, the health service, and their own professional development. More learner-driven than CME, it includes the continuous acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and attitudes to enable competent practice. It is a lifelong commitment that builds on formal and informal opportunities to learn emerging science, apply innovations in clinical settings, and expand understandings of caring for patients.

The literature on CME and CPD shows that most passive educational activities are poor at changing physicians' behaviour, the most effective strategies tending to be more active multiple, based on accurate assessment of needand aimed at overcoming barriers to change.

The new concept of Knowledge Translation offers a more holistic construct, subsuming and building on CME and CPD. It is defined as the exchange, synthesis and ethically sound application of knowledge (using evidence based clinical knowledge) to accelerate the capture of the benefits of research... towards improved health, more effective services and products, and a strengthened health care system.

The section is in charge of accreditation of live events and e-learning materials according to the UEMS: EACCME defined procedures in its fields of competence in laboratory medicine (ie: clinical chemistry, haematology, immunology, toxicology, biotherapies ...)