We’re back today with the fourth of our CMEpalooza Fall moderator interviews. This one is with Lawrence Sherman, Senior Vice President of Educational Strategy at Prova Education. Lawrence will be kicking off CMEpalooza Fall at our 9 a.m. session — The Future of CME: What Will CME/CPD Look Like in 5-10 Years?
A few of his more salient insights:
On the things that scare him about the future of CME:
The first thing is that it seems to me that there is no shortage of CME in areas where funding is available and educational needs exist, but there may be a shortage of CME in areas that are not as sexy and not as fundable. I am concerned that that imbalance may lead to bigger gaps in education and bigger challenges in improving patient care.
The second thing that worries me is that we get lost in the definition of what CME is. It’s not just, “Can we measure to level 5 outcomes in this?” but, “Did we find what the needs were, and did we meet those needs?”
On the most important change to CME in the last 5 years:
People are always down on the ACCME. I’m not. When they changed and updated their criteria two times ago, they helped to ensure that accredited providers are really educators. It may be difficult at times to do the paperwork, but it’s because we have to document that what we are doing is truly educational. That helped those folks who were out there doing a little education and a little other stuff to decide ‘What is it that we want to do?’ And if they chose education, they had to be committed to be educators.
On his best personal learning experience in the last year?
My best learning experience has been to continue to incorporate new ideas, technologies, and approaches into what we do. Sometimes in our industry, it seems like Groundhog Day. “I’ll just repurpose something,” or “That approach will work again,” or, “We’ll just renew that.” The reality is that everything is new, everything is unique, and everything is different.
You can watch the full interview below:
CMEPALOOZA 