Follow medical education discussions from #AAMC12 #meded

If you have an interest in medical education, make sure to follow the Twitter hashtag #AAMC12 while the Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) 2012 Annual Meeting runs from Nov 2-7 in San Francisco. You don't need to be in SF to follow the conversation. Turn on Twitter and search for #AAMC12

Today, Walter Isaacson who wrote the biography on Steve Jobs spoke to medical students and physicians attending the AAMC Annual Conference. He reminded medical educators that we need to "think different" and focus on innovation if we want to improve medical education.

Joanne Conroy, MD, @JoanneConroyMD Chief Health Care Officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, tweeted:

• @WalterIsaacson "education and medicine have not yet been fully disrupted by the digital revolution" #aamc12
• @WalterIsaacson - Einstein knew how to think outside of the box because he knew what was in the box. #aamc12
• @WalterIsaacson "must create and environment where not only we innovate, but we encourage others to innovate as well" #aamc12

Vivian Lee, MD, PhD @vivianleemd Dean of the University of Utah School of Medicine and CEO of University of Utah Health Care tweeted:

• #aamc12 Do medicine & education need disruptive innovation of tech to change? @khanacademy.@erictopol @AAMCtoday @wlaterisaacson say yes.

Follow #AAMC12 to keep up with the conversation.

2011 Integrating Quality Meeting: Linking Clinical and Educational Excellence

Make sure you don't miss this meeting:

2011 Integrating Quality Meeting: Linking Clinical and Educational Excellence

The third annual meeting of the AAMC Integrating Quality Initiative will include sessions on innovative and integrative approaches to quality across the continuum of medical education and clinical care in academic medical centers.

June 9, 2011 - June 10, 2011
InterContinental O'Hare Airport Hotel, Chicago, Ill.

Learn more here.

Principled Partnerships: Practical or Pipe Dream? #cmetaskforce

This morning at the 21st Annual Conference Of The National Task Force On CME Provider/Industry Collaboration, Dr. Darrell Kirch from the AAMC spoke about the culture of medical education.

He started by going into the history and culture of medical education and biomedical research. The culture of health care changed when Medicare entered and fee-for-service models changed the way physicians were compensated. Hospitals focused on the "margins" and hired academic physicians to boost procedures and patient volume capabilities.

Speaking of culture, what is the culture of industry? Industry is undergoing a culture change - similar to the cultural shifts that are occurring in health care and academic medicine. He spoke about the triple bottom line: profit, people, and planet. We need to have a balanced position around the cycle of  research, comparative effectiveness,  patient engagement, delivery system transformation, knowledge translation, etc. Let's rethink our approach to the medical education continuum. We must teach physicians so that they are focusing on improving patient care. We also need to change our health care reform culture and focus on medical homelessness. Unfortunately, most of the focus will revolve around health care costs.

If we compare the old vs. the new CME, we see that newer CME focuses on patient outcomes, systems-based education, and integrated educational initiatives. As we move forward, we will be developing principled partnerships and managing them over time. Then, we must affirm our integrity while fostering innovation.

In the Interest of Patients

How often are physicians "influenced" by their financial relationships with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device companies? Are they "prescribing under the influence?" Or, do they have enough common sense to be objective and practice evidence-based medicine even if they have financial relationships with industry?

The AAMC has released a report titled, "In the Interest of Patients: Recommendations for Physician Financial Relationships and Clinical Decision Making."

This new report by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) urges U.S. teaching hospitals to establish policies that manage financial relationships between physicians and industry so they do not influence patient care. "In the Interest of Patients: Recommendations for Physician Financial Relationships and Clinical Decision Making" provides guidance on how academic medical centers can identify, evaluate, and disclose conflicts of interest in clinical care.

You can access the report here: http://www.aamc.org/clinicalcoi

The AAMC also published a report in 2008 titled, “Industry Funding of Medical Education: Report of an AAMC Task Force.”  Meanwhile, the Physician Payment Sunshine Act will certainly lead to a greater level of transparency regarding the financial relationships between physicians and industry. Will it be enough?

National Faculty Education Initiative

Have you heard of the NFEI? Well, if you're not very connected in the world of certified CME, then you probably haven't.

The Alliance for CME and Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME), in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and endorsed by AHME, launched the National Faculty Education Initiative (NFEI). This program provides online training on the differences between Certified CME and Promotional Activities. Sound basic? Well, you may be surprised to know that many clinicians don't really understand all the rules and regulations concerning certified CME or promotional education.

If you'd like to learn more, then take a look at the website:
http://www.nfeinitiative.org