Webcast: Pfizer First Friday Webinar Series: Outcomes Assessment
Date: Friday, August 6, 2010
Presenter: Don E. Moore, Jr., Ph.D
Slides: PDF click here
Notes:
Planning & Assessment Framework for CME Planners

•  Start each activity by defining a logical assessment process:
  - Start with the end in mind. “Backwards” planning starts with the needs assessment
  - Best practice planning begins with examining a community health gap (not just a physician practice gap)
  - It’s important to define the type of gap: Performance gap? Knowledge gap? Competence gap? Administrative and patient issues should also be considered.
• Outcomes Planning:
  -Think about the outcomes you would like to see and realize that different outcomes require different approaches in planning.
  - Best practice uses health records as objective measures to examine changed practice and/or surveys or case-based questions as subjective measures
• Consider physician learning stages when planning activities and formats:

Planner will:
Pre-dispose learner→
Enable learner→
Reinforce learning
Learner will:
Recognize need for improvement→
Take ownership for improvement→
Incorporate what was learned into practice→

• Provide opportunities for practice and feedback

- To insure that the knowledge will transfer to the learner’s daily practice, the guidance must be practice-based

•  Ideal methods of reinforcement:
  CME coaches
  Performance dashboards
  Traveling competence teams
  - Why do pilots need to go through a certain number of simulation hours before they can be licensed? Shouldn’t physicians have to do the same?
• Implement, Monitor, and Evaluate with “Plan, Do, Study, Act” format
  - Planning, Implementation, and Outcomes Assessment should be a circular process to improve CME over time, with Outcomes Assessments revealing further practice needs or directing planners to address leftover gaps.
  - Ideal follow-up would track learners at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months
•  Successful program elements can be identified and incorporated into other CME activities.

As the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) co-sponsor a September 2010 conference to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the influential Flexner Report, educators can focus on the future by reflecting on the positive and negative implications of this report.