Photo: The ACCME accreditation mark which the JABSOM CME Program earned in 2016.
By Tina Shelton, JABSOM Communications Director
Many people do not recognize that Continuing Medical Education (CME) is mandated by law in Hawaiʻi for physicians to maintain their licenses to practice. In the last several years, the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), led by Dean Jerris Hedges, has strengthened its CME program, positioning it to earn its first-ever accreditation with commendation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).
“The accredtiation is absolutely something to be proud of,” said Kate Regnier, MA, MBA, Executive Vice President of ACCME in January, when she came to the the University of Hawaiʻi medical school to speak at the 2018 Hawaiʻi Health Professions Education Conference.
“The accreditation means that your institution really cared enough to seek that accreditation and to demonstrate that you met very high expectations for education that is independent of commercial interests — education that is based on valid content, that is really designed to change the competence performance or patient outcomes of the physicians and the team here,” said Regnier.
Regnier praised the work of Dr. S. Kalani Brady and Brenda Wong in the JABSOM CME office, saying, “They’re just amazing.”
In our short JABSOM Video, Regnier helps explain the sometimes misunderstood “continuum of medical education”, that is — that schools like JABSOM have multiple educational commitments. We teach medical students–undergraduate medical education, but also train physicians in Graduate Medical Education, and provide the Continuing Medical Education required throughout a physician’s career.
Video Transcript: Kate Regnier Interview.January2018.Honolulu.
More about CME at JABSOM
The Continuing Medical Education program at the University of Hawaiʻi, called the Hawaiʻi Consortium for CME, is a joint venture between JABSOM and the Hawaiʻi Medical Association that began in 1994. The Hawai’i Consortium for CME designates roughly 30 to 35 activities annually. These include series such as Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Conferences and Journal Club in the JABSOM Departments of Geriatric Medicine, Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, OB-GYN, Office of Medical Education, Surgery and Orthopedic Surgery; short courses offered by SimTiki (the JABSOM patient simulation training and research center); and joint activities in community partnership with physician and healthcare organizations.
For questions regarding the Hawaiʻi CME accreditation process, activity development or applications for designation, please contact Brenda Wong at (808) 692-0900 or email brendaw@hawaii.edu.