Another CPD product is ABIM Learning Sessions, which are six-hour, case-based courses. “They’re based on 60 questions provided by ABIM, which provide recertification ‘knowledge points’ that participants can acquire, with the assistance of very knowledgeable faculty,” says Dr. Uknis. This is presented prior to the Annual Scientific Meeting in the fall.
The CPD also handles ACR’s self-assessment program, Continuous Assessment Review and Evaluation (CARE). “It’s Web-based, consists of 60 ABIM-type self-assessment questions, and provides educational links to assist in reviewing the question topics and finding the answers,” explains Dr. Uknis. Features include “treatment guidelines, arthritis and rheumatism literature, and up-to-date links. Participants can get ABIM and CME credit for this.”
Audiovisual Aids Subcommittee
The Committee on Education also encompasses a subcommittee devoted to audiovisual learning aids. Terry M. Wolpaw, MD, associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, is the Audiovisual Aids Subcommittee chair.
“Our goal, predominantly and almost exclusively, focuses on the image collection,” she explains. “It’s a repository of rigorously peer-reviewed images of common diseases as well as rare manifestation of diseases. It includes radiology and clinical images. It’s used to teach students across the entire spectrum, from medical students to practicing rheumatologists.”
The subcommittee holds a call for submissions every year, and each time they receive approximately 200 image submissions. From these, the subcommittee selects the best overall image, and first- and second-place images in each category.
Of the remaining selections, the subcommittee may choose anywhere from 50 to 75 to add to the image collection. “The second phase of our work is for committee members to write captions for those, which are also peer-reviewed,” explains Dr. Wolpaw. “The collection grows every year.”
Dr. Wolpaw adds that in the future, the collection will be available online. “We recognize how people learn and how people teach – mostly they use their computers,” she says. “We want to keep the collection user-friendly and accessible. It will be much more dynamic, and not limited to static images.”
With all of these educational options, there is something to meet the needs of rheumatologists and health professionals in all types of practices, labs, and institutions.
Jane Jerrard is writing the series on ACR committees.