The year 1949. The place: Cincinnati, OH. The event: the first-ever Scientific Assembly for general practitioners.
"Twenty outstanding clinical teachers of recognized ability as speakers will present lectures dealing with the questions that a busy general practitioner encounters in his daily rounds," said an ad for the meeting. Among the presentations were "Bladder Irritation in the Female," "Types and Causes of Heart Failure," and "Some Facets of Low Back Pain." More than 50 technical exhibits featured the latest in books, equipment, drugs, and therapeutic aids.
That 1949 Assembly of the American Academy of General Practice began an educational tradition that has lasted these 50 years. One strand that runs through the entire life of the Academy is the importance of education and CME.
Francis Halcomb, MD, an AAFP life member, attended the first Assembly. He recalls just how important that and later meetings were for GPs, who had few other avenues for CME.
"It (the 1949 Assembly) gave me an opportunity to review new drugs and what was current at that time from a medical standpoint,'' says Dr. Halcomb. Assembly sessions he attended counted toward the 150 CME hours required every three years for Academy membership, a stipulation in effect since the first Bylaws were adopted.
"I've never missed getting the 150," says Dr. Halcomb, of Scottsville, KY, now 78 years old.
"What they were trying to do was improve the image of the family doctor and show that you just don't graduate and never open a book," says Dr. Halcomb, who began his Scottsville practice in 1946. He still works one day a week seeing patients at the local General Electric plant and also does some emergency room work.
Registration for early Assemblies was free for members and cost non-members $5. The first tours for children of members were offered March 20, 1956, at the Washington, DC, Assembly.
Family physicians attend local CME programs as well as AAFP's Assembly. Dr. Halcomb says the Kentucky chapter, chartered in 1948, currently sponsors four seminars a year, including its annual meeting. The chapter's foundation also offers CME opportunities.
"More CME evolved as time went on," Dr. Halcomb says, adding that medical schools also provide CME.
Last year, constituent chapters offered more than 180 courses for CME credit. And 103,020 seats were available for CME courses at the 1996 Scientific Assembly in New Orleans. The AAFP Committee on Scientific Program plans to increase that number for the 1997 Assembly Sept. 18-21 in Chicago.
The credits earned in those courses count toward today's CME requirements for AAFP membership. To receive a fact sheet on CME requirements, call CME Records at (800) 274-8043.