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EBAC Newsletter 2023_II: EBAC Symposium this week

Posted on January 24, 2023January 24, 2023 by EBAC Office

Dear Madam,
dear Sir, 
dear colleague,

The EBAC/ECSF Symposium on

“Future of e-learning in CPD”,

to be held on 

Jan 27, 2023, 2pm Brussels time

Is approaching fast, please find below the final agenda:

Future of e-Learning in continuing professional development (CPD)

Moderators: Fabiola de Andrade/Reinhard Griebenow

  1. Welcome   Reinhard Griebenow/Fabiola de Andrade
  2. Introduction  Henrik Herrmann/Reinhard Griebenow 
  3. Current workplace conditions- a culture of learning?- results of the Marburger Bund Monitor 2022 Henrik Herrmann
  4. Facilitators and barriers in using e-Learning   Stephanie Herbstreit
  5. Impact of micro-e-learning   Wendy Walsh
  6. Administrative issues in statutory accreditation systems   Nico Herbst
  7. Self-directed learning- recent developments   Reinhard Griebenow
  8. Panel discussion: What are the determinants for an integrative approach?  All faculty and participants

Faculty:

  1. Fabiola de Andrade, Confabs Counselling, Rotterdam, NL
  2. Prof. Reinhard Griebenow, MD, European Cardiology Section Foundation, Cologne, D
  3. Dr. Nico Herbst, cbh Lawyers, Cologne, D
  4. Prof. Stephanie Herbstreit, MD, University of Duisburg-Essen, D
  5. Prof. Henrik Herrmann, MD, European Cardiology Section Foundation, Cologne, and Marburger Bund Germany, Berlin, D
  6. Wendy Walsh, UpToDate, Boston, USA

If not yet done please respond to  

contact@e-cs-f.org

to receive the conference link for this virtual symposium.

Looking forward to see you on Friday I remain

Yours sincerely

Robert Schaefer, MD

EBAC Newsletter 2023_I: EBAC Symposium

Posted on January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by EBAC Office

Dear EBAC® clients and supporters, save the date!

This is a kind reminder on the fully virtual symposium on

“Future of e-Learning
in continuing professional development (CPD)”

on 27. January 2023, 2pm CET

Please send an e-mail to <contact@e-cs-f.org> in order to receive the link to the conference.

This conference aims to develop a holistic approach to how to shape the future of e-learning. Don’t miss this opportunity to discuss with international experts! 

Yours sincerely

Robert Schaefer, MD

EBAC Newsletter 2022_VI: Future of e-Learning in continuing professional development (CPD)

Posted on November 30, 2022November 30, 2022 by EBAC Office

Dear EBAC® clients and supporters,

We are looking back on a year shaken not only by the ongoing pandemic, but also by a crisis brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Globalisation does not only facilitate the spread of infectious diseases, but also forms a basis for deadly domino effects in case of events as the Russian war against Ukraine, with countries in the global South now suffering from severe famine. This is a strong reminder for us as medical profession that community health may only be achieved, when we also consider the social and political dimension of medicine, including medical education. 

EBAC® accredits activities with global attendance, and activities in different parts of the world outside Europe. As an accrediting body we have strengthened our contribution to this complex process by incorporating in the EBAC® basic documents that educational “content should always contain a community health perspective” (http://www.ebac-cme.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Roles-and-Responsibilities-of-Providers-f-2022.pdf), to support providers and faculty to meet the needs of participants, often having a diverse health-care systems’ background.

In 2022 the provider community has still been struggling to find the new normal between live in-person meetings and online education. EBAC® would like to actively contribute to this discussion with its fully virtual symposium on

Future of e-Learning in continuing professional development (CPD)

on

Jan 27, 2023, 2pm CET

Please mark your calendars, we will provide you with the final program and further connection details in due time! This conference aims to discuss the many pros and cons around e-learning and find an integrative approach serving as many relevant aspects as possible.

On behalf of EBAC staff and reviewers I would like to extend our warm thanks to all of you for your continuing cooperation and support in 2022! Please stay safe!

With best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year
Yours sincerely

Robert Schaefer, MD

Cologne Consensus Conference 2022 – please register!

Posted on August 5, 2022August 5, 2022 by EBAC Office

CCC22 is going to be held on Sept. 7/8, 2022 as a fully virtual meeting.

Please click “https://bit.ly/3QEE3o7” to register by August 29th.

CCC22 will cover the following agenda items:

  1. International Academy for CPD Accreditation (IACPDA) Standards for Substantive Equivalency between CME/CPD Accreditation Systems and their application in a pilot recognition procedure. After adoption of the IACPDA Standards in CCC20 the subsequent CCC has finalized the details of the recognition procedure, to be tested in a pilot, on which applicants as well as reviewers are going to report.
  2. Learning during and in the post-pandemic era
    The covid-19 pandemic has forced a change to electronic media to keep CPD up and running. While covid restrictions are becoming less tight CCC22 will discuss what might be the “new normal” and how accreditation bodies might adapt their procedures to new formats. European contributions will come from BioMed Alliance and Fabiola de Andrade (formerly with EBAH)
  3. Team-based learning
    While already being a popular learning format in the US and Canada team-based learning is still in its early days in Europe. This session will include a report on C_19 SPACE, an interprofessional program developed and rolled out by the European Society for Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), addressing physicians and nurses with the aim to increase intensive care workforce. This program has initially been funded by the EU, accredited by EBAC, and has now been adopted by WHO to be rolled out globally.

See you at CCC22 and stay safe
Best regards

Robert Schaefer, MD
CEO, EBAC

New EBAC online evaluation tool II

Posted on June 6, 2022June 6, 2022 by EBAC Office

In follow up of the last EBAC Newsletter we would like to provide you with the information to implement the new EBAC online evaluation tool into your educational activities.

From June 15, 2022, on all accreditation statements will contain a URL and a QR code to access the online evaluation form for your respective educational activity.

Thus, please take care that

  • planning committee and faculty be informed to design the program accordingly and include “evaluation” as last point of the agenda. From June 15, 2022, on the EBAC review process will contain a check, whether this has been implemented in the program
  • the last speaker will integrate the URL as well as the QR code into her/his presentation (for further details please see below)
  • at the very end of each educational activity the URL as well as the QR code are presented to participants as a “last slide”, to be displayed for 3 minutes
  • participants can only claim their certificates after filling the evaluation form (relates to all education delivered online, including “on demand” versions).

You are kindly invited to report on your experience with the new tool in a virtual conference to be scheduled about 8 weeks after the launch of the new online evaluation form.

How to find the URL and the QR-code for your activity?

In the EBAC Management (https://services.ebac-cme.org) search for your programme and go to “Programme details”. Next to “Invoice” you will find a new tab “Survey”. Selecting this tab shows you the URL and the QR-code for your survey.

The URL for your survey starts with “http://ebac.vote/” followed by a 4 – 6 digit code. The QR-code can be scanned by most smartphone and points the smartphone’s web-browser directly to your survey.

To copy the URL to your computer’s clipboard, click on “Copy to pasteboard”. This will copy the URL into your pasteboard, and you can insert it into any other document. 

To download the QR-code image to your computer, click “Download QR-code image”. Your web-browser will download the image as PNG file. You can insert it into any other document from your downloads folder.

New EBAC online evaluation tool

Posted on May 16, 2022May 16, 2022 by EBAC Office

EBAC has implemented an online evaluation tool to ensure that evaluation is an integral part of each educational activity.

Evaluation of accredited CPD is essential to inform

  • providers whether they have met their objectives,
  • faculty about the uptake of their presentations, and
  • the accrediting body about the perception of the participants.

EBAC makes evaluation mandatory for all accredited activities, and has offered a paper-based evaluation form for download on its website. However, in the past, paper-based evaluation has, for various reasons, often resulted in poor response rates.

The new online tool consists of 5 questions. It is accessible through a short URL as well as a QR code. These codes are provided by the EBAC Management System and shall be distributed by the provider to the participants at the end of each activity.

From June, 15, 2022 on this new procedure will automatically become part of all EBAC accredited CPD activities. More detailed information will be provided soon.

Please start to plan your schedules accordingly by reserving three minutes for online evaluation at the end of your programs.

Save the date: ECSF/CME-EA/Karlsruhe University Webinar April 5, 2022, 17:00 CET

Posted on March 23, 2022March 23, 2022 by EBAC Office

The next webinar in our regular series of webinars on topics also relevant to medical education will focus on patient safety, regulatory frameworks, and innovations in digital health, taking the publicly refunded digital health apps in Germany as a starting point for our discussion:

Digital innovations in medicine – progress vs risk for our patients

featuring

  • Susanne Habetha, MD and
  • Sven Sauermann, Healthcare Heads Ltd., Kiel, Germany

on

April 5, 2022, 17:00 CET (Brussels time)

Continue reading →

Covid-19 – continuing education – EBAC / EBAC-AMA agreement renewed

Posted on December 14, 2021December 14, 2021 by EBAC Office

Since 2020 the covid pandemic disrupted not only societies but also medical education.
What at first has been a survival strategy to many providers in 2020 has to a large part become the new normal:
“live” events (webinars), delivered online, often were followed by open access to the content for varying timespans (on demand), or hybrid activities. The latter comprising

  • activities with in person audience, simultaneously broadcasted online
  • asynchronous learning followed by a webinar (based on the content studied during asynchronous learning)
  • in person meeting followed by an opportunity to further discuss and study related material online,
    this list will probably not be exhaustive.

Recent reports in the Journal of European CME (JECME) have suggested that these new formats of learning – by far the quantitatively dominating educational format in the past – are at least as effective as in person meetings.

According to JECME accrediting bodies and regulators have reacted to this change and adapted, at least temporarily, accreditation rules of e-learning and accepted electronic learning formats as equivalent proof of CME.

It is not yet clear however whether this will be considered a temporary adaption or a lasting change in accreditation policy.

EBAC has already enabled accreditation of micro-e-learning for several years, and thus, could quickly adapt to the new challenges and assimilate the new formats under this framework. EBAC accepts tracking as proof of participation for all online learning formats (for further details please refer to the relevant documents on the EBAC website, or contact the EBAC office).

Continue reading →

From EBAC® to….. EBAC®!

Posted on February 26, 2021February 26, 2021 by EBAC Office

Since 20 years at the heart of education in medicine: 

From EBAC® to….. EBAC®!

 About 20 years ago the “European Board for Accreditation in Cardiology” has started to accredit continuing medical education in cardiovascular medicine.

Since nearly 10 years EBAC has supported the Cologne Consensus Conference, which since its inception in 2012 has dealt with various topics in continuing education, going well beyond the specialty of cardiology and covering also interprofessional continuing education (IPCE).

About 2 years ago EBAC owner ECSF, a non-profit, charitable foundation under German law, has decided that EBAC should accredit continuing education for health professionals, incl. interprofessional education, and also start to offer provider accreditation as an alternative to event accreditation.

This has resulted in accreditation of e.g. the EU funded interprofessional education project “Covid-19 Skills PrepAration CoursE” (C19_SPACE), run by the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), and aiming to recruit workforce for intensive care units during the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Consequently, ECSF has now decided that EBAC will maintain its acronym, but the full name will change to

 

European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals

 

All accreditation procedures will follow the “Standards for Substantive Equivalency between CME/CPD Accreditation Systems” as issued recently by the International Academy for CPD Accreditation (IACPDA).

EBAC is proud to have access to a network of experts highly experienced in accreditation of continuing education in the medical professions, who are now going to apply the “Standards” in all EBAC accreditation activities. 

As education evolves, so has accreditation, and this process has substantially been accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, EBAC is looking forward to being able now to even better serve the needs of people who are unified in their goal to improve patient as well as community health.

EBAC 2020

Posted on December 18, 2020December 18, 2020 by EBAC Office

This is to extend warm thanks to all of you for your continuing cooperation and support in 2020!

Starting into 2020 nobody had anticipated as what devastating disruption the Covid-19 pandemic would cause for our professional as well as private activities. The medical profession has not only fulfilled its duties in caring for our patients, but also risen to the enormous challenge in our fight against the unprecedented virus pandemic hitting our societies globally. We all have also managed as a group to continue with our educational activities, although out of necessity with a different approach.

The Covid-19 pandemic has demanded from all of us maximum flexibility and creativity to prevent a complete lockdown of all medical education. All crisis presents an opportunity for a new (and hopefully better) approach. This is particularly true in the field of medical education. The pandemic has initiated not only an intense discussion on values and limitations of online education, but also is helping to identify and define a new balance between online education and face to face meetings. What at first appeared as an emergency solution to many of us to just avoid total breakdown, has subsequently turned out to offer new perspectives regarding outreach and involvement of international audiences. It will be interesting to see how this will further develop in 2021 and beyond, when Covid-19 hopefully will have been controlled by vaccination.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic EBAC has been committed to offer the most flexible support that it possibly can and this support will continue to assist you all in the planning and delivery of CME for all medical specialties as well as health teams (interprofessional CE). 

2020 has also been an important year for accrediting bodies who have created a global basis for cooperation for which the term “substantive equivalency” of accreditation systems has been coined. The International Academy for CPD Accreditation has in its yearly public meeting (Cologne Consensus Conference, Sept. 2020) adopted the “Standards for Substantive Equivalency between CME/CPD Accreditation Systems”, which have also been endorsed by EBAC. In our view these standards have the potential to provide a unifying basis for planning, delivery and, last not least, accreditation of CME/CPD worldwide. They will also be of particular importance for the medical profession in EU. In the absence of EU regulation to define standards in CME/CPD on CME, this task will exclusively fall to the member states. National regulations so far show maximal individuality and diversity. According to a recent communication from the EU to EBAC, the EU does not plan to mandate any organization (e. g. medical professional political organizations) to implement CME/CPD standards. Furthermore, the EU does not intend itself to implement such standards. This could only happen if there is a change to the “Treaty on the Functioning of the EU”.

Thus, it is our hope that the “Standards” which we are proposing will be accepted by regulators, national medical associations, and accrediting bodies in Europe. In addition, the International Academy is going to lobby for this goal with the relevant European political and professional organizations.

With best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and New Year and: 

Please stay safe!

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