do Millennials
know the smooth sounds of Wang Chung?
a Gen X haiku

catch Palooza Fall
on October twenty-one
you won’t regret it

don’t forget your steps
STEPtacular Challenge ends
this coming Sunday

9 AM ET: From Courses to Conversations: Lessons from Building an AI Clinical Assistant for CME

very nice of them
to build a cool helper for
Allen Iverson

10 AM ET: Grant Anatomy 201: More Grant Proposal Dissection

101 last Fall
but there was so much to say
more time was needed

11 AM ET: Treating the Moment vs. Transforming the Journey: Why Only Funding Treatment-Focused Education Is Failing Patients

a good reminder
it’s not the destination
it is the journey

Noon ET: Ties That Teach: Connecting Clinician and Patient Education

blest be ties that bind
our patient education
to our clinicians

1 PM ET: CME Time Machine: Whatever Happened to Our Biggest Ideas?

some ideas work
some ideas fade out like
Power Rangers pogs

2 PM ET: The Late Show Top 10 List for CME Professionals: Things We Wish We’d Known Earlier

Letterman tribute
but no stupid human tricks
maybe for next time

3 PM ET: Miles from the City but Minutes from Learning: The Power of CME in Rural America

CE should always
be location agnostic
rural or urban

4 PM ET: Ask Us Anything: Live Rewind

a session in which
Scott and Derek seek answers
from smarter colleagues

Sponsors

sponsor palooza
get a handcrafted haiku
awesome haiku deal

Gold

taking advantage
of this awesome haiku deal
Daiichi Sankyo

like Dre and Snoop rapped
nuthin’ but MLG thang
that was bad, sorry

Silver

how is the fall like
Academic CME?
both have Hayes-y days

one of only two
palooza pharma sponsors
Bristol Myers Squibb

you’ll find no quitters
at CME Outfitters
perhaps some knitters

there is only one
Global Education Group
the rest are just crowds

the Brawny man has
nothing on this Braun-y man
prez of GLC

we are really-o
super fans of Healio
that’s our dealy-o

whether you are a
brother or you’re a mother
you’re stayin’ Medlive

Pri-Med‘s primary
prerogative is passion
for Primary Care

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.