By Tym Peters, University of California, San Francisco
Our annual meeting is now just a couple of weeks away, and I’m thrilled about the prospect of implementing our multi-channel approach. We have a lot of questions – can we bridge the gap between in-person and livestream channels, or synchronous and asynchronous channels? Can we successfully manage interactions between virtual and on-site attendees? Will we have enough volunteers to make it work? (Ed. Note: volunteers needed, if you can help email us at info@sacme.org). How might feedback differ between these cohorts? And ultimately, can it be a successful approach to a large-scale meeting, and what will we learn from it?
To date, we are planning to release content and engage attendees through multiple channels: the On-demand Channel and Reading Channel (asynchronously), the Nashville Channel (on-site), the Virtual Channel (live over Zoom), and the Discussion and Community Channels (via the multichannel conference app). There may be more added as the program continues to develop! Look for announcements as these channels open later this month going into March.
One thing I have to make clear is that the level of access for in-person and virtual attendees will be identical – that’s right, all access all the time (except for the bar discussions at the Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University, but who knows?). A primary goal in having a multi-channel meeting is to ensure that there are ways to distribute content over time and that participants on both sides of the live stream are able to interact and have access to the same content. With very few exceptions, those participating virtually should be able to engage with the same parts of the live meeting as the participants on-site, even if the modality is different. This includes integrating both audiences into our plenaries, concurrent sessions, breakouts and small group work, social activi- ties, casual learning sessions, and the use of a singular conference app/virtual platform for learners to engage “as if they were there.”
Our programming starts on February 27th with a workshop on integrating people with lived experience into the simulation design cycle. This is followed by a three-part series on coaching in the CPD environment beginning on March 1st. Additional workshops will cover topics such as scoping reviews, barriers to change in CPD environments, virtual scenario design, and how to engage in dialog around culture change within an organization. These workshops will be virtual, and on March 14th, in-person attendees can avail of our 3-hour workshop on addressing well-being and burnout. Click here for full details. And if you still haven’t signed up, there’s still time – don’t forget, we’re multi-channel this year so jump off the fence and register.
During the event proper, excellent sessions to look forward to include applying the CE toolkit, driving change, structuring patient partnerships, and increasing alignment with healthcare systems to improve outcomes.
Our Keynote speaker will be Dr. David Price, familiar to many of us as a long-time thought leader in SACME and expert in the field of education and education quality improvement. In a recent article titled “Systems-Integrated CME: The Implementation and Outcomes Imperative for Continuing Medical Education in the Learning Health Care Enterprise,” David argues that “the structure and delivery of CME have not sufficiently evolved to be broadly viewed by health enterprise leaders as a strategic or integral asset to improving health care delivery” and new models are needed to make the vital role of CME visible within health care delivery enterprises.
He goes on to argue that CME has been slow to change, with passive sessions still more the norm than exception, and methods of accumulating credit still centered on hours instead of outcomes. Further, alignment between CME and quality improvement units in many health enterprises continues to be tenuous, and all of these factors result in “insufficiently few health care enterprise leaders (embracing) CME as a strategic asset or change agent.” This vexing landscape still presents opportunities “for engaging physicians in addressing the patient care challenges faced by the health care enterprises in which they work” if we can increase collaboration and develop mutual strategic goals to “tackle complex prob- lems and translate evidence (“the what” and “the how”) into health enterprise practice (“how to do the how”).” There’s much here to ignite and inspire our imagination.
We’ll hear a lot more from David on the challenges and opportunities facing CPD on Wednesday, March 15th so be ready to take notes and engage in the conversation. And one more time, if you can help, we need some mod- erators, some folks to help with basic tech support, and some people to help monitor online interactions, so please contact Tym Peters if you’re interested! We look forward to seeing and hearing from you in Nashville, whichever part of the Multiverse you choose to participate.
