I am a reader. It’s not just a side hobby for me, but something I prioritize in my daily life. Given the limited number of hours in a day and the high volume of activities competing for those hours, it can be a challenge to find reading time. With that in mind, I am usually very careful in vetting the books I read so I’m not wasting my time on crap.

Recently, I eschewed my usual selection process and made an impulse buy of a book whose title caught my eye. I would never judge a book by its cover, but I will sometimes judge it by its title. American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed by Isaac Fitzgerald had just the right autumn-sounding vibe I was looking for to get the season started. What could be more Fall than Johnny Appleseed and hiking a wooded trail?

Friends, I’d like to refer you back to the subtitle of this book, specifically the word “walking.”  You see, while the author does do some walking, he also quite often jumps in a white Jeep named Rabbit and takes off down the road, driving, not walking. American Motorer: Driving Around Looking for Johnny Appleseed Stuff would have been a more apt title. It was definitely not the book I thought I was buying.

Today is the start of the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, sponsored once again by Talem Health. For a few days this week, we hope you will take a break from driving and give your legs a workout. Whether you’re rambling around the woods or training for a marathon, all our welcome to join and participate. Here are all the details you need to know.

• The challenge begins today (Monday, October 12) and will go until the end of the day on Sunday, October 18
• The challenge is to record at least 10,000 steps in one day. For each day during the challenge period that you record 10,000 steps, please send in a screenshot of your step-counting device with the number of recorded steps, either by email (thecmeguy@gmail.com) or text (267-666-0CME [0263]). Please include the following information:
  • Screenshot of number of steps
  • Date of steps
  • Name
  • Email
  • Physical mailing address (we need this to send you merch)
  • T-shirt size
• For each day you achieve 10,000 steps and send in a screenshot, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card (there are five gift cards; you cannot win more than one.) Winners will be drawn during the week of CMEpalooza Fall. You can send them in each day individually, or you can send them all in at once at the end. It doesn’t matter to me.
• The person who records and submits the most steps in one day wins a $250 Amazon gift card
• Please send in your steps by 5 pm ET on Monday, October 19
• Everyone who enters for even one day will receive this sweet CMEpalooza performance t-shirt courtesy of Talem Health.
  

Thanks everyone and good luck!

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge sponsored by:

Last reminder: Today is the deadline for CMEpalooza Multiplicity. So if you want to enter, do so before 5 p.m. ET.

As part of our periodic How do you Palooza series (see our first blog entry here), I reached out to Wendy Macias at Methodist Healthcare in San Antonio, TX, to line up one of our hard-hitting video interviews. Some people call me the Barbara Walters of our generation. Frankly, I always thought she was too nice.

Anyway, Wendy’s hospital was unfortunately in the midst of a site survey when I reached out to her, so she had to be on-call for that and didn’t want to commit to much else. Was she simply fearful of my probing questions? You can decide for yourself.

Wendy was, however, kind enough to share some thoughts on what she does to coordinate her team on Palooza days (our Fall meeting is coming up on Wednesday, October 21). Here is what she had to say:

I don’t do anything special to motivate really. When you send out the agenda with objectives, I review it to determine which match the educational needs and interests of my CME team (Committee, planners/ meeting coordinators, and CME compliance staff) based on their feedback and other discussions over the year. I highlight the sessions relevant to our program and activities. I include the why and indicate which roles might benefit from each session. I send reminders the day before.

Since CMEpalooza does not send out attendance certificates, I ask them to send me the name of the session they participated in and when they participated – live or recorded. CMEpalooza is not a twice a year resource for us, though.

Background as to why I need to do all of this:

We are state accredited vs national (ie, ACCME). Texas Medical Association recently added a requirement to the ACCME requirements – a structured CME committee with oversight for the CME Program that reviews and approves the CME Mission statement and other CME policies. This committee is comprised of target audience representatives.

I am a hospital-based provider in San Antonio. Methodist Healthcare has grown to 10 hospitals, plus we manage rural hospitals and provide outreach. We are a Division of HCA- 50/50 owned by them and Methodist Ministries. However, we are For-Profit.

I was asked to pursue Accreditation with Commendation when I became manager in 2007, so I lobbied and received approval to move my department under the System Chief Medical Officer (CMO). The MHS CMO at the time was a Baldridge Award surveyor, Dr. Ken Davis. He believed in aligning CME with quality. He wanted quality over quantity. This allowed me to change the structure of the CME Committee.  My CME Committee includes:

• MHS CMO
• Our hospital CMOs (required by the MHS CMO to participate)
• System level VPs based on service lines (QI, Cardiology, Oncology, Neurosurgery, Women’s health, Bioethics, Ethics and Compliance, Quality Clinical Analytics, Medical Staff Services, Marketing, Physicians Reps). Each have a vested interest.
• RSS planners/meeting coordinators (addresses target audience physicians and nursing for team-based education)
• General counsel

When the commendation rules changed to require CME Team training with external opportunities, CMEpalooza became a key part of achieving that.  Two primary reasons: limited budget and our CME committee has limited time.

CMEpalooza’s live and archived content helps me meet the educational needs and interest of this team while accommodating their time limits. The varied content addresses different roles in CME, CME educational formats, budget, and impact on learners.

I created internal SharePoints for each of type of CME Team roles. CMEpalooza’s website link is posted on all. This is why CMEpalooza is more than a twice a year resource for my team.

Why should you drop everything to immediately complete our special sponsor, CMEpalooza Multiplicity?

A. Because you could really use a $100 Amazon gift card to buy this for that special someone in your life

B. Because you want to learn everything you can about each and every one of those wise wise companies that are sponsoring CMEpalooza Fall

C. Because your boss asked you to do something this afternoon and you really don’t wanna so you are going to procrastinate by doing something sorta work oriented but more fun

D. Because you immediately set aside a full hour in your calendar when you saw that the most exciting event of the year was launching this week and it just so happens that that hour is today. Woot woot!

Clearly, the correct answer to this question is A (answer hidden in invisible ink).

If you want to challenge yourself even more–and perhaps win actual prizes to boot–we encourage you to take a few minutes to play CMEpalooza Multiplicity. If you want, you can pretend you are legendary announcer Rod Roddy every time to click on your choice and say, “The answer, Bob, is C!” Probably best to make sure no one is around first.

The entry deadline for CMEpalooza Multiplicity is at 5 pm ET on Friday, October 9. So you still have some time. But not a lot.