About EU-ACME

Continuing Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development - A Credit System for Monitoring and Promoting Excellence - January 2005 In 2004 the European Association of Urology (EAU) and the European Board of Urology (EBU) have joined forces to promote Continuing Medical Education amongst all urologists in Europe by creating a new committee: the EU-ACME. Both organizations have equal representation in this committee under the chairmanship of Prof Dr Helmut Madersbacher. The EBU is responsible for all regulatory matters, such as determining the rules for accreditation of educational activities in accordance with the guidelines of UEMS. The partnership with EAU makes a truly European wide system possible, with its promotional and administrative possibilities. Urologists already partecipating in the EBU-CME system will continue to benefit from the present system but will experience the advantages of a much more sophisticated system currently being under development. The constant demands of modern medicine make Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) an absolute necessity Continuing Medical Education CME activities are almost always geared toward practicing physicians and are designed to provide information that is both relevant and essential to medical practice. To achieve these aims, successful CME programs are based on effective educational principles that promote the acquisition of knowledge while promoting efficiency, professional integrity and high ethical standards. Continuing Professional Development Continuing Professional Development can be defined as the systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge and skill, and the development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional and technical duties throughout the practitioners working life (Continuing Professional Development. A practical approach. John Lorriman. The Institution of Electrical Engineers p 1. 1997). To be granted credits, institutions and especially educational activities, should be accredited by a special body: the EBU Accreditation Committee, constituded by members of the European Board of Urology through the EU-ACME office. The EBU applies the rule 1 credit point per 1 hour (with the maximum of 6 credit points per day and 18 for the whole event), which is in line with the standards of the EUropean Accreditation Council for CME (EACCME), under the umbrella of UEMS (European Union od Medical Specialists). Granting EBU accreditation automatically ensures an exchange of credits and recognitions with other medical specialities in Europe as well as with the American system. The real key to successfull CPD is the doctor as an individual. The achievement of excellence is inevitably an individual task and a difficult one, if the developmental goals the doctor sets are high, as indeed they should be in order to attain optimum results. Institutions should guarantee that all professionals are teaching, training and learning throughout their careers Continuing Professional Development, as a system, targets individuals, organizations, providers and professional institutions, all of whom must be involved in the process together and work toward mutually sustaining it. Promoting a Culture of Continuing Professional Development Continuing Professional Development is the ultimate challenge we can take on. It tests our capacity to achieve, maximizes the learning process, updates our knowledge, translates theory into practice, sharpens our skills, and puts us at the cutting edge of our field. Continuing Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development are fundamental tools in ongoing development CME and CPD help doctors maintain and upgrade their knowledge in the chosen medical field and broaden their personal and professional experience after obtaining the post-graduate degree and becoming specialists. Above all, CME-CPD enhances the quality of patients care by constantly improving the physicians skills, broadening the physicians professional outlook and helping him/her to keep up with the vast amount of scientific information constantly being generated. The entities that stand to benefit most from the doctors upgraded knowledge and resulting improved health care are the institutions that employ physicians and the public at large who need to be assured that their countrys practicing physicians are abreast of the latest techniques and theories. It is therefore imperative that all institutions interested in maintaining high standards of medical practice give their unrelenting commitment to Continuing Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development. Universities, hospitals, scientific associations/societies, colleges of specialists and scientific, pedagogical and professional institutes as well as such international institutions as the boards should take an active role in promoting this form of ongoing professional development. Serious commitment means that professionals must be given time off to participate in scientific meetings, or engage in self-study if educational goals are to be achieved. Professional leave should be guaranteed by employers. Hospital departments should at least partially reimburse expenses incurred by CME-CPD activities. Continuing Medical Education and ontinuing Professional Development are a joint process that should continue throughout the physicians professional life. A review of CME-CPD activities in which the doctor is engaged and an evaluation of his/her skills and knowledge should be maintained. A Credit System for monitoring and promoting Continuing Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development The Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS) recommends that the institutions that sponsor/provide CME-CPD activities on a regional, national and international level, as well as the activities themselves, should be accredited in the European Union.The EBU and EAU are aware that a new vision of Continuing Medical Education should be conveyed and, in the future, it will be forced to move from a credit accumulation system to a system based on confidence and reliance on people. In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, the EBU first istituted a credit system to control CME-CPD activities of specialists. The system, applied to CME, was inaugurated in July 1998, at a European School of Urology (ESU) Course in Lisbon, as a pilot study. The Accreditation Committee of the EBU is responsible for the accreditation of activities and institutions to be granted EBU Credits. The European Association of Urology (EAU) is the main provider of pan-European CME activities in urology. In 2004 both the EAU and EBU have joined forces to improve the system and to make it into a truly European System (EU-ACME system), to be used by all urologists in Europe, to help them to keep track of their educational activities, irrespective of the country they practice in or where they have participated in CME and/or CPD activities. For the system to become successful close co-operation between national as well as international associations is essential. In the EU-ACME System Credits are grouped into five categories. Within each category, a number of units, commonly called Credits, are applied to all approved CME-CPD activities. The number of credits attributed to the activities depends on the kind of activity. The number of credits considered the minimun necessary for an adequate training/experience as a specialist, for a period of five years is definied by the EBU Accreditation Committee. The EAU offers automatic registration for its active members since participation in the system is strictly voluntary. The information recorded can be used both by the specialist for personal record-keeping and curricular purposes and/or by health authorities for informational purposes. National, international and EAU activities can be accredited by the EBU Accreditation Committee. The mentioned activities are subject to a regular review. The EU-ACME will act as a central institution where all information forwarded by the European Association of Urology and the National Associations is kept and where the credits registered are harmonized for the European Union. The EU-ACME Credit System has been designed to ensure uniform standards, while taking into account each countrys present organizational structure. Organizing and providing institutions may only announce credit-bearing activities after approval has been granted by (national) credit-granting authorities. The names of organizing/providing institutions should appear on all material published, especially on activity programs. All of the above services will be supervised by the Accreditation Committee of EBU, which will base its action on the information provided bt the European Association of Urology, by the National Delegates to the EBU and by non-EAU International institutions.

Not a member yet? Register here >>>