Continuing Education Credits - How to Apply

It is very important to set up now the objectives for your seminar. You need to let potential attendees to know what they will get out of your seminar, hands on workshops, or from the big convention.

There are many good points for which you would like to educate the participants coming to your seminar. In the medical world, since most of my experience is in this field, one of the most important points for an attendee to come to your seminar is to gain knowledge, hear the latest facts and trends in their field, get trained and be able to apply the treasure into his/her clinical practice. In addition, physicians and health practitioners are looking for CME (continuing medical education ) credits or CEU(continuing education units). CME  stands in particular for physicians, and CEUs for chiropractors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, etc.

If your business is in need of event management and organisation, or just advice and support, get in touch with us at  www.accmgroup.com 





Here I undo a list of things that will help you understand CME accreditation process.

•  Prepare your agenda. Choose the topics of your seminar. Contact speakers, collect their abstracts and their CVs. 
  
  
• There are different types of CME/CEU credits. You will need to decide what kind of credits are eligible for your seminar. In another article I will probably write about  CME/CEU credits types.
  
  
• Look for an accredited CME/CEU provider. In order to have these credits available for your seminar, you will need to apply for them. There are so many providers you can choose from. For a list of CME providers I certainly recommend you to go to www.accme.org. All CME providers must be accredited by the American Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). For CEUs, some Universities are giving the accreditation approval for chiropractors, nurses, pharmacists. 
  
  
• Once you have your agenda ready, speaker information collected, then contact your CME provider. They will give you an application form to fill out along with a list of requirements to fulfill prior to approval. 
  
  
• One good advise is to make sure all speakers' presentations have no commercial content . CME is all about education, not promotion, or commercial interest.  You will not get approved for credits if speakers are promoting certain products or services.  The provider will instruct you in regards to this step.
  
  
• Course description. You will need to write a course description for the whole program. The CME provider requires to have in written a brief description about the program, outline the most important point of your seminar.
• Outline in specific details the educational objectives for your activity.  If more than one subject area is covered then list the learning objectives for each major area (e.g., what the participant(s) should be able to do as a result of this program/level of knowledge or skill).
  
  
•  Once you have completed the application send it to the provider for review. Upon review you will receive the approval including the number of credit hours approved for your seminar. 
  
  
• Now you can market your event, including CME credits, start taking registrations and get ready for the date of the event.
  
  
• Start designing or have a graphic designer making your activity evaluation form. Each participant needs to fill out this so you will get a course evaluation report at the end of the show. It is very helpful and required by the CME provider as well. This way, you will find out what were the strengths or wickedness in planning your seminar. You will have speaker reviews, which will definitely help you maintain a great database of excellent speakers for the future.
• After the event, each attendee must receive a certificate or documentation of attendance including the amount of hour earned by participating to the seminar.

Don't take my advice as the only source. Feel free to document yourself as much as you can in order to complete a successful seminar. It is worth spending time in advance than paying later for mistakes. If you think you will not have enough time and resources to complete this step, I encourage you to seek the help of a professional. This will help you making the right decisions, saves you time and money! 

If your business is in need of event management and organisation, or just advice and support, get in touch with us at  www.accmgroup.com.