Continuing Medical Education (CME) in time of crisis: How medical societies face challenges and adapt to provide unbiased CME

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of responses to the multiple-choice question, “What is your society expecting from the BioMed Alliance Permanent CME Experts Committee?”

What is your society expecting from the BioMed Alliance Permanent CME Experts Committee?
Form a strong common voice for medical education in Europe	93%
Criteria on how to develop high-quality educational activities	71%
Advice on how to assess needs for education	71%
Common agreement on how to talk with pharma/device industry about education	71%
Be represented as one voice at UEMS or CME/CPD level conferences	64%
Advice on how to prepare applications and programmes that are seen as unbiased	57%
Create a platform on communication about different educational activities	50%

(Abbreviations: UEMS, European Union of Medical Specialists; CME/CPD, continuing medical education/ continuing professional development).

Table 2. Summary of survey questions relating to CME stakeholder relationships and key issues relating to CME

What providers of CME does your organisation collaborate with?	Hospitals/ institutions	79%
	Academia/ universities	79%
	Learned societies	64%
What regulators of CME does your organisation collaborate with?	Accreditation bodies (international and national)	93%
What funders of CME does your organisation engage with?	Industry (pharma/ devices/ diagnostics)	79%
What users/recipients of CME does your organisation cater for?	Healthcare professionals (medical specialists & allied professionals)	86%
What other stakeholders is your organisation engaging with?	Technology companies	86%
	Hospitals/institutions as employers of healthcare professionals	64%
	Professional congress organisers	50%
What do you see as the key issues related to CME?	Assessment of individuals, of educational programmes (bias, quality, impact, change in practice, satisfaction, etc.)	86%
	Resources (funding, human capital, competences, etc.)	64%
	Standards	64%
	Accreditation	57%

(Abbreviations: CME, continuing medical education)

Table 3. The most frequent types of educational activities organised by medical societies

Which educational activities are you organising?
Interactive courses – during congress or in addition to the annual congress	100%
In-person or traditional teaching – during congress	93%
In-person or traditional teaching – in addition to annual congress	93%
Hands-on courses – during congress or in addition to annual congress	93%
Online educational activities	93%
Fellowship programmes or training programmes	86%
CPD programmes	71%
Blended learning programmes	50%

(Abbreviations: CPD, continuing professional development).

Table 4. How many medical societies apply for MedTech accreditation and EFPIA “green” and how they ensure that the content is unbiased

Do you apply for MedTech accreditation?
Option	%
Yes No	58%
	42%
Does it matter for your society that your events obtain EFPIA “green”?
Option	%
Yes	54%
No	46%
When the educational activities are supported (partially or in full] by the industry, how do you guarantee that the content delivered is unbiased
Responses to open question	%
Programmes are designed, checked and peer reviewed by independent scientific committee	46%
Industry plays no role in the development of the content	54%

Table 5. The ways by which medical societies identify educational needs and prevent commercial bias in educational activities

How do you identify which educational activities your members need/expect?
Committee develops a curriculum	86%
Questionnaires sent out to members	71%
Consultation with National Societies in my speciality area	71%
Consultation with junior researchers	64%
Consultation with patient organisations	50%
How do you guarantee that your educational activities are as unbiased as possible?
Conflict of Interest management procedure	100%
Industry events are organised at different time slots than the scientific programme	93%
Industry information is separated from scientific information in the programme/ website, etc.	86%
Internal policy for Conflicts of Interest	64%
Feedback questionnaire post activity – participants are asked to provide feedback on bias of speakers etc.	64%
Activities must be supported by more than one company	64%
Diverse committees, including people from different regions, patient representatives, etc.	57%

Table 6. Responses to questions 6, 7 and 8 from Survey II

6. How has the COVID-19 situation changed the way you provide education?
We only organised virtual events	88%
We organised a combination of face-to-face and live events and/or hybrid events	12%
We only organised face-to-face activities	6%
7. Are you planning face-to-face CME-CPD activities in 2021?
All our activities will take place online	41%
At the moment, we have planned both virtual and face-to-face activities	35%
We are organising hybrid events and online events	35%
8. What are the three main challenges* your organisation is currently facing in delivering Continuing Medical Education/Continuing Professional Development programmes?
Challenges		Percentage
Ensuring interaction with participants & facilitating networking online		47.1%
Transition from face-to-face to digital		35.3%
Finances: e.g. higher costs, lower revenue, limited resources & budget planning		35.3%
Issues around CME accreditation for virtual CME		23.5%
Struggle to teach certain topics virtually, that are best taught in face-to-face setting		23.5%
Availability experts/faculty		17.6%
Competition from high number of other digital events		17.6%
Short timelines		17.6%
Limited digital skills (of participants, faculty or both)		11.8%
Finding most appropriate hybrid format, with right mix of digital/face to face		11.8%
Increase in attendance		5.9%
Respecting diversity policy		5.9%
Uncertainty delegate behaviour		5.9%
Ensuring educational goals are reached		5.9%

*All responses were taken into account and are provided in the sequence of frequency of a particular response