Activity Planning
In planning an educational activity, there are some questions that need to be answered:
- What type of activity are you planning?
- Live Course is a live activity where the learner participates in real time. A live course is planned as an individual event. A live course can either be classified as an in-person event or live-streamed via an online platform. Examples of a live course could be an annual meeting, one-off conference, or seminar.
- Regularly scheduled series (RSS) is a live activity planned as a series with multiple, ongoing sessions, e.g., offered weekly, monthly, or quarterly. An RSS is primarily planned by and presented to the accredited organization's professional staff and generally targets the same audience over the whole series. Examples include grand rounds, tumor boards, and morbidity and mortality conferences.
- Enduring Material is an activity that endures over a specified time and does not have a specific time or location designated for participation, rather, the participant determines whether and when to complete the activity. (Examples: online interactive educational module, recorded presentation, podcast.)
- PI CME activity is a process by which evidence-based performance measures and quality improvement (QI) interventions are used to help physicians identify patient care areas for improvement and change their performance. This type of CME activity differs in structure from other CME learning models that may also use PI/QI data (e.g., live activities, enduring materials).
- Other - The other/blended learning activity format is used for hybrid, new, or unique approaches that do not fall into one of the established activity types. Providers must identify these activities as other/blended learning in the AMA credit designation statement, in the credit designation statement, and in documentation given to learners (certificates, transcripts, etc.). The inclusion of this activity format allows educators to deploy new technologies such as simulation, adaptive e-learning, virtual reality, gamification, and social media into their medical education approaches.
- Why are we doing this?
- What professional practice gap has been identified?
- What do physicians need to know, understand and change regarding this need?
Developing a needs assessment based on this gap and identifying the underlying problem or learning needs builds the foundation of all activities. From these, objectives and goals are developed, along with content, learning methodology and assessment of the program.
Step 1 - Meet
Contact us at cme@evms.edu or 757.446.6140 to set up a meeting with our staff and your planning committee. We’ll discuss your activity in detail and assist with completing the needs assessment.
Step 2 - Apply
Complete and submit a CME pre-application, before the planning begins.
Once the CME pre-application is reviewed by staff, you will receive an email with access to the complete the full application.
Step 3 - Notify
Once the CME application and planning committee disclosure forms are received, the course director and coordinator will be notified whether the activity was approved or not.
Step 4 - Identify, mitigate and disclose relevant financial relationships
Once approved, the course director and coordinator will obtain the following from the speakers and submit them to the CME office:
- Speaker Confirmation Form – if the presentation will be streamed or recorded
- Disclosure of Financial Relationships
If the speaker discloses financial relationships, the course director and/or planning committee is to determine which relationships are with ineligible companies and, of those, which are relevant to the content of the activity. Once identified, the course director must notify the CME staff member of these relevant relationships.
Relevant Relationships with ineligible companies
Mitigation Form – To be completed if the speaker indicates relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.
Contact speakers and request a copy of their presentation to ensure the content is relevant, current, evidence-based, and unbiased.
Step 5 - Marketing
All marketing material must be approved by CME staff prior to dissemination. Content regarding CME must be verbatim and provided by the CME staff.
CME follows the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) accreditation requirements and policies in developing educational programming for physicians as evidenced by the CME Application.
