Author: Brian S McGowan, PhD

Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
The need for up-to-date and high-quality continuing medical education (CME) is growing while the financial investment in CME is shrinking. Despite online technology’s potential to efficiently deliver electronic CME (eCME) to large numbers of users, it has not yet displaced traditional CME. The purpose of this study was to explore what health care providers want in eCME and how they want to use it.
METHODS:
This was a qualitative study. Two 3-hour focus groups were held with physicians in both academic and community practices as well as trainees knowledgeable in the hypertension clinical practice guidelines with a willingness to discuss eCME. Content/thematic analysis was used to examine the data.
RESULTS:
Three main themes emerged: credibility, content/context, and control. Credibility was the most consistent and dominant theme. Affiliations with medical organizations and accreditation were suggested as methods by which eCME can gain credibility. The content and need for discussion of the content emerged as a key pivot point between eCME and traditional CME: a greater need for discussion was linked to a preference for traditional face-to-face CME. Control over the content and how it was accessed was an emergent theme, giving learners the ability to control the depth of learning and the time spent. They valued the ability to quickly find information that was in a format (podcast, video, mobile device) that best suited their learning needs or preferences at the time.
DISCUSSION:
This study provides insight into physician preferences for eCME and hypotheses that can be used to guide further research.

via Physician preferences for accredit… [J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2011] – PubMed – NCBI.

Abstract
Integrating pharmacology education into a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum has proven challenging for many medical schools, including the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine (Penn State COM). In response to pharmacology content gaps in its PBL-intensive curriculum, Penn State COM in 2003 hired a director of medical pharmacology instruction to oversee efforts to improve the structure of pharmacology education in the absence of a stand-alone course. In this article, the authors describe the ongoing development of the virtual pharmacology curriculum, which weaves pharmacology instruction through the entire medical school curriculum with particular emphasis on the organ-based second year. Pharmacology is taught in a spiraling manner designed to add to and build upon students’ knowledge and competency. Key aspects of the virtual curriculum (as of 2011) include clearly stated and behaviorally oriented pharmacology learning objectives, pharmacology study guides that correspond to each PBL case, pharmacology review sessions that feature discussions of United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)-type questions, and pharmacology questions for each PBL case on course examinations to increase student accountability. The authors report a trend toward improved USMLE Step 1 scores since these initiatives were introduced. Furthermore, graduates’ ratings of their pharmacology education have improved on the Medical School Graduation Questionnaire. The authors suggest that the initiatives they describe for enhancing pharmacology medical education are relevant to other medical schools that are also seeking ways to better integrate pharmacology into PBL-based curricula.

via Creating a virtual pharmacology curriculum in a pro… [Acad Med. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.