ACCME accreditation is offered to organizations that demonstrate a commitment to use continuing medical education (CME) as a process for improving professional practice to benefit healthcare.  The ACCME Criteria and Policies provide a framework that allow accredited organizations many ways to realize CME as a strategic asset in support of their broader organization's mission and goals.  As a CME professional, your efforts may be dedicated toward planning and implementing educational activities in support of your "CME mission" in compliance with the ACCME's Criteria and Policies.  But, where does your "CME mission" and your larger organization's mission meet?  How do you best position your CME program to provide value and strategic benefit to your organization?

To explore these questions, the ACCME has developed this educational tool.  The goal of this tool is to provide new insights and strategies to help enhance your CME Program's strategic role within the organization.  In 3 collaborative exercises, you and your colleagues will reflect on the current environment within your organization, map accomplishments, opportunities, and challenges, then develop a plan for moving your CME Program forward.

The exercises outlined below can be completed either individually or in a group (such as a CME Planning Committee or with departmental staff).  They have been designed specifically with accredited CME Providers' staff and volunteers in mind - including any individuals who assist in the planning, development, and delivery of CME activities. 
 

Navigating the Exercises - An Introduction

Approx. 10 minutes to complete

The purpose of these exercises are to assist accredited CME providers in developing strategies to improve their CME Program's current or potential impact on the institutional goals of their organization.  Play this video for the group to hear more about this activity.

Exercise 1. Self-Assessment

Approx. 30 minutes to complete

The purpose of Exercise 1 is to help you gauge the extent of engagement between your CME program and your accredited organization.  This exercise should be completed individually by each member of your group; you will then discuss your rankings together at the end of the exercise.

So, let's begin.  On the left side of Page 1 of the Positioning Your CME Program for Organizational Impact worksheet that you printed, under the title Exercise 1. Self-Assessment, you will see six topic headings with statements below them.  For example, the first one looks like this:

Each topic and statement has a continuum arrow directly below it; for the topic above, the values at each end of the continuum are "Disagree" and "Agree."  Each member of your group should mark an X on the continuum at the place that best represents how they feel about the statement as it applies to your organization and the CME program.  In the example above, if you strongly disagree with the statement, your X will be close to the word "Disagree"; in contrast, if you somewhat agree, your X will be around the middle, but a little closer to the word "Agree" than "Disagree".

For Exercise 1, do not write in the blue shaded area with the heading Strategies for Change and Improvement.  Your group will return and complete this section as part of the final Exercise of this activity. 

Once each member of your group has ranked all six of the statements on the left side of the page, discuss your rankings as a group.  For each statement, consider the following:

1. Where did you mark the continuum for this statement?
2. Why do you feel this way?
3. Is this something as a group we feel we are doing well or could be improved?

After you complete a discussion of each of these six areas, it is time to move on to Exercise 2.  The next two exercises will help you assess both where and how you might be able to improve upon the areas that the group feels need to be strengthened.  Your group will then return to complete the right side of the page, when directed to do so, as a last step in this Activity.

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Exercise 2. Mapping Your Organizational Positioning and Goals

Approx. 30 minutes per Step to complete (90 minutes total)
 

Step 1 - Your Organization

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Step 2 - Your CME Program

Step 2 requires that you reflect specifically on your CME program.  Like Step 1, Step 2 is designed to be completed by each individual participating in this exercise. You may choose to play the video guide below to walk your group through this exercise, or facilitate the exercise yourself using the Facilitation Guide provided above.

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Step 3 - Connections

Step 3 is designed to help you make connections between your organization as a whole (Step 1) and your CME Program (Step 2).  You may complete Step 3 individually, as you did in Steps 1 and 2, or as a group.  You may choose to play the video guide below to walk your group through this exercise, or facilitate the exercise yourself using the Facilitation Guide provided above.

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Exercise 3. Tactical Approaches

Approx. 45 minutes to complete

In Exercise 2, you connected the work of your CME program to your organization as a whole. Now, in this exercise you and your group will be focusing more specifically on strategies that are currently being used in your CME Department related to the development and delivery of education for your learners. You will also spend some time identifying challenges that you encounter. 

Well done! This exercise helped you focus on the “job” of your CME Unit as well as what helps and hinders your organization’s ability to deliver quality education. Now you are ready to reflect back on your initial Self-Assessment on page one of the worksheet and make a plan for moving forward.

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Reflective Discussion

Approx 25 minutes to complete

The final step in this Organizational Mapping Activity is to circle back to the first Exercise and use what you have learned through the process to make an action plan.  Based on what you’ve discovered through the Exercises of this activity, your team is going to take some time to articulate concrete next steps for you and your CME program – these could be deliverables for this week, this month, or this year. 

Provide us with your Feedback

We value your feedback about this and other ACCME educational tools.  Please take a moment to click on the link below and complete a brief survey about this education. You may complete this evaluation individually or together as a group.

Positioning Your CME Program for Organizational Impact - Evaluation Survey

© 2011 Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.  These materials may be used only for non-commercial educational purposes. 

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