Continuing Physician Professional Development

Hospitals boost leadership training for physicians

More and more hospital-employed physicians have opportunities to receive in-house training for leadership positions, with health systems seeking to prepare doctors for increased responsibilities as part of health system reform.

A story by American Medical News examines this trend and notes that physicians taking leadership training from their institutions usually are expected to go on to join hospital committees and take on other appropriate roles. Program requirements vary widely, with some requiring a year or two or monthly attendance at weekend courses and others taking only a few hours annually, American Medical News reports.

An upcoming educational session offered by the AMA Organized Medical Staff Section (OMSS) aims to educate physicians on the attributes and skills required for success as a physician leader. The session, "Essential Physician Leadership Attributes for Improving Health Outcomes," will take place June 16 in Chicago in conjunction with this year's AMA-OMSS Annual Assembly Meeting.

Physicians can earn continuing medical education credit in the form of  2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ through the program. Visit the AMA-OMSS website and click on "Essential physician leadership attributes for improving health outcomes: part 1" for more information.

"Board eligible?" The clock is ticking

New policy from the American Board of Medical Specialties will limit the number of years that a physician can be "board eligible" before becoming certified in a given specialty, according to a recent article in American Medical News. The new rule is intended to prevent abuse of the term by physicians who may not be actively pursuing board certification but use "board eligible" to connote equivalence to physicians who are board-certified. Each member board of the ABMS will set its own time limit, to range between three and seven years.

Quotable: New CME book reviewed in JAMA

"Although postgraduate medical education, commonly referred to as continuing medical education (CME), is the longest and arguably the most important educational phase of a physician's career, it is considerably neglected when compared with undergraduate and graduate medical education. An increasing recognition of the importance of CME, in combination with issues regarding industry funding, a renewed focus on interprofessional education, and a major change in how health care professionals obtain continuing education, has thrust CME into an unaccustomed spotlight. Hence, Continuing Medical Education: Looking Back, Planning Ahead, edited by Dennis Wentz, is a timely read."

(Source: JAMA review, Feb. 8.)