CME
CME Mission Statement
Purpose
Consistent with the College’s vision of “improving standards of practice and patient care,” the American College of Phlebology (ACP) continuing medical education (CME) program is based on a fundamental commitment to improve the competence and performance of physicians and those allied health professionals working in the field of phlebology. The CME Program addresses the high standards embodied in ACP’s board certification examination to facilitate its membership and other professionals that engage in its educational activities to deliver the highest quality of care for their patients.
Content Areas
The content of the CME program is informed by a continuous needs assessment process that is based on learner gaps derived from several sources. They include:
- The analysis of learner educational outcomes analyses from all ACP CME programs.
- Results of research that reveals the professional practice gaps of the membership as expressed by knowledge causes, and/or strategy causes, and/or performance causes.
- Direct surveys that solicit self-assessment opinions from the membership about their current gaps in knowledge or performance.
- Breaking scientific developments that will impact on the safety and outcomes of the care of patients with venous disease.
- Standards of care as defined by the American Venous Forum, the Society for Vascular Surgery, the Vascular Disease Foundation, the International Union of Phlebology, and the American College of Phlebology—together comprising the quality framework of reference for ACP activities.
- The ACP Phlebology Fellowship Curriculum.
Standard ACP content areas and the core curriculum are as follows:
- Normal venous anatomy and hemodynamics.
- Venous disease, including its epidemiology, presentation, morbidity.
- The basic science of venous physiology and pathophysiology.
The general principles (indications, contraindications, risks and benefit) of therapy (medical & surgical) for venous disease. - The evaluation and management of recurrence following treatment.
- Cutaneous disease associated with venous insufficiency.
- Lower extremity venous thrombosis, superficial thrombophlebitis, deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
- The presentation, diagnosis, and management of primary and secondary subclavian / axillary vein thrombosis.
- The three etiologic categories of venous dysfunction (congenital, primary, and secondary).
- Lymphatic anatomy, physiology and the pathophysiology of its dysfunction.
Target Audience
The primary target audience for ACP activities is physicians who have a knowledge or performance gap in the theory, application, or practice of phlebology. The primary target group includes practicing phlebologists, phlebologists in training, and fully trained physicians in other specialties who are interested in becoming phlebologists.
ACP’s target audience and membership includes physicians with diverse clinical backgrounds including surgeons, dermatologists, internists, family practitioners, and obstetricians. In addition, ancillary health care professionals such as physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners and ultrasound technicians represent a secondary target audience.
Types of Activities Provided
As a professional association, the ACP provides the following educational activities and opportunities through its CME program:
- The Annual Congress—includes live courses and seminars, original scientific presentations, poster presentations, clinical workshops, lectures, symposia.
- The “Advanced Techniques” Symposia—provide lectures, demonstrations, and “hands on” sessions that engage learners in one-on-one and small group training formats in the performance of various treatment techniques used in the field of phlebology.
- Phlebology Review Course—provides lectures containing the essentials of venous disease and its care. This course prepares candidates for the Phlebology Board Certification Exam.
- Enduring materials—containing a variety of educational formats, including: monographs, video tapes, audio tapes, and web-casts.
ACP activities endeavor to engage the learner in the educational process to optimize and sustain results. Planners are encouraged to utilize case studies, simulation, reflection, and question/answer sessions.
Expected Results of the ACP CME Program
Through a variety of educational outcomes measurements (EOM), the ACP measures improvement inlearner competence, and/or performance-in-practice, and/or patient outcomes—depending on the intended results as designated in the planning process.
Metrics for EOM are as follows:
- For measuring improvement in competence, learners are presented with case studies at the end of the activity that are utilized to measure learners’ abilities to apply knowledge obtained from the activity to a practice situation.
- For measuring improvement in performance, surveys are sent to learners 3-6 months post-activity. These follow-up surveys measure whether or not learners have applied what they learned from the activity to their practice.
- For measuring patient outcomes, additional questions are appended to the follow-up performance questionnaires seeking observational and anecdotal responses by learners related to improvements in their patient outcomes as a result of implementing new behaviors from the specific ACP educational activity.
Whenever possible, pre-tests are utilized to establish a baseline measurement.
EOM results are analyzed to determine if intended results were achieved, barriers that prevented results from being achieved, and improvements indicated that can be applied to the overall CME program. ACP’s CME Committee and leadership review all outcomes to assure that they reflect the mandates contained in the CME Mission Statement.