Online Continuing Medical Education

Online continuing medical education is the answer for busy medical professionals who must maintain their licensures and still have full access to their medical professions each work day. Balancing a professional life often tasked with running a business and having a good family life is becoming increasingly difficult for many healthcare professionals. With online continuing medical education or CME, those tasked with leading the healthcare industry can accomplish the balancing act more successfully. However, there appears to be a slow acceptance of Internet CME for many doctors. Less than twenty percent of physicians in the United States are using these resources to update their knowledge and practices.

There are about sixteen thousand online continuing medical education courses now offered to healthcare professionals. Over twenty-six thousand credit hours are linked to these courses of study, giving a wonderful opportunity to these professionals to receive needed credit for CME accreditation. The cost of receiving CME is about five to fifteen dollars per credit hour. As the demographics of computer literate medicine related professionals increases, CME can be expected to rise. Older doctors may not know where to find CME opportunities or may be averse to using the Internet. There are other locations where ongoing educational opportunities are available other than online.

Many CME opportunities are available through the health professional's local hospital network. In many instances, this personal interaction with colleagues may prove to be more stimulating than viewing a computer monitor for hours on end. Additionally, physicians have yearly specialty meetings that meet many of the requirements for CME credits and they find those meetings more interesting and helpful than online education opportunities. One of the downsides to online CME is the preference that physicians still have for lecture- type presentations. Possibly as a throwback to medical school days, the lecture format seems to hold more usefulness in terms of knowledge taken from a presentation than even colorful online charts, graphs, etc.

There are, of course, online continuing medical education courses for nurses who are registered, practical, and also nurse practitioners. These courses are specifically designed for the needs of the nurse and his or her responsibilities. While the physicians' CME courses are couched in more specific biological and physiological terms, the CME courses offered to nurses are often more patient care related. Courses can include older adults and their care, complications of pregnancy, infection control, pain and its management, reducing medical errors and many more generalized courses. Physicians and nurses are not the only people who can benefit from online education courses. The list is extensive to include radiologic technologists, sonographers, those who specialize in taking EEGs, EKGs and other types of electrical diagnostic tests. Then there are dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, physical therapists and more! Each individual profession carries with it specialized rules and regulations as to what courses qualify for continuing medical education credits to stay certified, and each state has its own regulations as well.

A great way to discover the latest opportunities for online continuing medical education courses is to check each profession's local chapter website or call the national organization representing each profession. These organizations are at the forefront of culling educational, clinical and various other establishments for courses and classroom tools for those seeking to stay credentialed or licensed. There will be courses in various formats to suit almost anyone's schedule. For example, most licensed health care professionals are too busy to attend classes during the day or at night. In that case, there are learning modules available on CD in almost any health care subject that is a learn-as-you-go type of course. Studying can be done when there is time and wherever the schedule permits if a person has a personal laptop computer or has some extra time at lunch at the office. "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it" (Proverbs 3:37 KJV).

Not only is online continuing medical education available in individualized formats, but there are online organizations out there that provide online education courses for entire organizations, or for several people within an organization. Some websites offer memberships to take advantage of bulk training at a discount, and so that all training tools are available at one site. No need to continuously search the internet looking for just the right course material. Everything can be at your fingertips utilizing one site. All certificates can be printed immediately after passing the course so there is no waiting around. Everyone likes to have immediate results! Also, if someone is not entirely sure the course selected is the correct one, there are courses available as "test runs" in order to allow the individual to try out the material before purchasing. In addition, most course offerings are written by medical professionals who are actively working, are on the cutting edge of research and by those who are educators. All have the desire to find new ways of presenting material in an engaging, interactive format that will capture the student's attention and keep it.

Most of the big name or Ivy League schools provide very high quality online continuing medical education courses, as well as courses on-site for those alumni seeking out online continuing medical education from their alma maters. This avenue will be a safe bet for alumni seeking out courses appropriate for their profession and by educators they know and with whom they are familiar. Should the student be someone who did not graduate from an Ivy League school, these options are still available and will look good on the curriculum vita when applying for positions elsewhere.