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.

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.

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 →

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.

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!