Performance Improvement CME

If you have been following this blog for a while you know I have a particular interest in “Performance Improvement CME”. Recently I have done several podcasts with CME professionals engaged in providing PI CME to their constituents. One striking outcome is being reported almost universally in these efforts. When physicians or groups of physicians engage in an effective PI CME initiative they not only make significant changes in their performance , they report they are learning a systematic approach to improvement they can replicate in other improvement efforts.

Not one of the CME providers I talked with indicated this was an outcome they intended. But to me this is an outcome as valuable as the intended performance changes in patient care. CME providers are teaching skills that are transferable to many different improvement interests. Perhaps we should consider physicians gaining this skill as an intended outcome of our PI CME efforts. It does mean we have to be very deliberate in teaching “improvement science” which may require some professional development of our own.

What do you think?

Listen to this conversation with Beth Mullikin, MS, Outreach Program Manager for the Office of Continuing Professional Development in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. If you are interested in PI CME I think you will find it very informative. Beth has a number of resources used to monitor PI CME initiatives and she is willing to share them. You can contact her at eamullikin@wisc.edu.

Each year the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education recognizes outstanding work in our field. This year the award for a “Great Idea” selected by the Medical School Member Section went to the Jefferson Medical College. The program was titled “Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania”. Under the direction of Jeanne Cole, MS, Director of CME at the Jefferson Medial College and Alexis Skoufalos, EdD, Assistant Dean for Continuing Professional Education in the Jefferson School of Population Health and in collaboration with Baylor this project was effective in changing some significant practices in two Pennsylvania Community Hospitals.
I recorded a conversation with Jeanne and Alexis about the project. For those of you interested in finding ways to effectively link CME and improvement efforts you’ll want to hear about this project. Go to my podcast.

You can also find more information about the project by linking to a presentation made at the 2009 meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education. Click here.

There are several articles in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Medical Quality regarding the project.

Project Overview Article
Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania: Adapting a Large Academic System’s Quality Improvement Process to Rural Community Hospitals Ziad Haydar, Julie Gunderson, David J. Ballard, Alexis Skoufalos, Bettina Berman and David B. Nash American Journal of Medical Quality 2008; 23; 252. Available online at http://ajm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/252

Hazleton Article
Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania: The Hazleton General Hospital Experience Andrea Andrews and Anthony Valente American Journal of Medical Quality 2008; 23; 259. Available online at http://ajm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/259

Meadville Article
Meadville Medical Center’s Experience With the Accelerating Best Care in Pennsylvania Project: Lessons Learned and Future Directions Sarah J. Dickey and David E. McNamara American Journal of Medical Quality 2008; 23; 266. Available online at http://ajm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/266

Let me know what you think.