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Continuing medical education has to be industry’s continuing commitment
VIENNA — If congresses such as EFORT provide us all with the opportunity to experience first-hand how breakthroughs in scientific knowledge, technology and clinical practice are advancing the field of orthopedics and traumatology, these events also highlight the increasingly critical role continuing medical education (CME) plays in the continued success of these specialties.
Few would argue that the pace of innovation in orthopaedics and trauma is among the highest of any medical specialty, and that dynamic CME programming is essential to ensure that surgeons have the opportunity to capitalize on advancements that will help them provide their patients with treatments that have the most potential to improve their lives.
For the past few years, medical societies, trade associations, universities and industry — the critical stakeholders — have been working hard to transform CME in ways that will help surgeons fulfill their professional, ethical, and in some geographies legal, obligation to develop, update and enhance their medical skills.
In Europe in particular, CME has undergone some broad and significant changes in recent years in order to ensure that content and distribution meet the growing need for training and education. Most recently, we have seen a broad shift from voluntary to mandatory CME in many European Union (EU) countries, as well as the establishment of more formal systems to guide physicians on how to keep pace with latest clinical practices. Europe is a complex system of disparate rules in terms of HCP (health care provider) education. Harmonization of accreditation across countries and the world remains in flux. It is clear much work remains and the window for accomplishing it is closing fast.
As the pace of medical innovation increases, so too do the challenges to delivering CME. The economic situation has affected attendance and revenues at major congresses, which are an important source of learning and training. Political pressure in Europe is reducing the number of company-sponsored physicians who attend meetings, while in the United State this practice has not been allowed for many years. Demands for evidence of practice improvements as a result of CME are growing in the United States and abroad.
Finally, heightened scrutiny of the relationships between industry and surgeons has caused some corporate players to back off from CME funding, particularly in the pharma industry. Add in a global financial crisis and it becomes evident that the 10% to 30% cutbacks in CME that many consultancies have been predicting may come true this year and next.
While we are here in Vienna, we all need to focus our dialogue on the steps we can take to advance CME at the same pace that we are advancing innovation in our sector. If doctors have an obligation to pursue lifelong professional development, we in industry — as the makers of the devices they use in the practice of their craft — have a responsibility for supporting their continuing education as well as training them on the effective use of those devices. That means industry needs to put education and transparency first—and sales second—and our surgeon partners need to help us accomplish that goal.
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- Laura Piccinini is vice president and general manager of orthopaedics for Stryker Europe..