Downloadable Fact Sheets Dispel Myths About CME Bias, Conflicts of Interest

CME providers, physician-learners and other stakeholders who follow the latest "hot topics" in continuing professional development now can download two fact sheets developed by the AMA National Task Force on Continuing Medical Education Provider/Industry Collaboration, known as NTF.

Presented during the 2008 NTF annual conference last fall, the fact sheets are part of the NTF's Get the Facts! campaign (2-page PDF; About PDFs) to disseminate factual information and dispel myths about important CME issues.

"CME: Providing Valid and Independent Evidence for Clinical Decisions" (1-page PDF; About PDFs) points out that physician-learners rely on "valid and independent evidence that is recognized within the medical profession as being the result of generally accepted practice, personal knowledge, technical skills, standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis" for clinical decision-making. Even when practice decisions are not made on the basis of such evidence, the fact sheet notes, "they must not be dangerous or proven ineffective." The expectation is that the information CME providers present in their educational activities will reflect these tenets.

"CME: Addressing Conflict of Interest (COI)" (1-page PDF; About PDFs) acknowledges that the potential for conflict of interest exists in the medical education, research and publishing environments and adds that this "must be recognized, mitigated and negated to protect the independence of the environment." For CME planners, presenters and authors, the key is recognizing when an entity has both a current financial relationship with a commercial interest and the opportunity to affect the content of a CME activity. The fact sheet lays out the steps for resolving such conflicts, should they arise, so that physician-learners can be assured that the information they are receiving is free from bias.

The NTF Public Affairs Committee has identified other critical issues to address through the fact sheets and has asked its member organizations to help distribute them to CME colleagues, lawmakers and policymakers, journalists and the public.

Composed of nearly 50 seasoned CME professionals, including Academy representatives, the NTF's mission is to provide a leadership forum that can have an impact on national policy related to the provision, support, accreditation and regulation of CME.

Among other stakeholder groups active in the task force are the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, the Association for Hospital Medical Education and the Coalition for Healthcare Communications.