As of July 1st, 2018, Prof. Joerg Stein (AT) has been appointed new chair of EBAC ARC by the ECSF Council.
Joerg Stein is a former Head, Department III of Paediatrics (Cardiology, Pneumology, Allergology, Cystic Fibrosis) at Innsbruck University Hospital, and joined EBAC as a reviewer in 2008, nominated by the Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC).
The European Board for Accreditation in Cardiology (EBAC) supports “the aim of continuing medical education/continuing professional development (CME/CPD) to maintain and update medical competence in cardiovascular medicine. This includes
The individual physician is free to choose the type and content of CME/CPD, which he/she considers as appropriate to meet his/her needs.” (from: EBAC Policy Statement and Accreditation Rules)
With this regard EBAC has considered a wide range of learning formats as suitable for accreditation. In live educational activities it has for a long time been accepted, that each contribution may not last 60 minutes (the lower limit to be awarded one full CME point) as long as the whole event lasts at least one hour.
E-Learning material, through unlimited access and flexibility of use, has enhanced meeting individual needs in CME by providing not only well established learning formats online, but even problem oriented “point of care”- information to support clinical decision-making in the individual patient. EBAC thus considers so-called “micro-e-learning” a valuable adjunct to more comprehensive learning formats.
The European Board for Accreditation in Cardiology (EBAC) is honoured to announce that the International Association of Medical Regulators Authorities (IAMRA) has approved EBAC as new partner member.
Dear all,
The International Academy for CPD Accreditation represents a “network of colleagues, dedicated to promoting and enhancing continuing professional development (CPD) accreditation systems throughout the world. The Academy is devoted to assisting and supporting the development, implementation and evolution of CPD and continuing medical education (CME) accreditation systems. Established in 2013, the Academy serves as a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer support for leaders of CPD/CME accreditation systems and encourages networking, mentoring and interactions about common issues”
(see: www.academy4cpd-accreditation.org).
Following its mission the International Academy has recently authored a “Consensus Statement on Independence and Funding of CME/CPD”, which aims to describe a global consensus of all organisations involved in accreditation of CME/CPD. This document has been adopted in the International Academy meeting on Nov. 8th, 2017, in Dublin (IRL) (see attachment), and has so far been endorsed by major international as well as national accreditors. It is considered valid for three years, and will then be revised.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank you for all cooperation and support of the work of EBAC in the outgoing year 2017. We look forward to continue in 2018 to serve our colleagues in their effort to improve patient outcome.
EBAC wishes you an enjoyable festive season and all the best for a happy and peaceful New Year!
With best whishes,
Robert Schäfer, MD
CEO EBAC
Originating from an informal cooperation of European accreditation bodies over the past few years a new association has recently been constituted: Continuing Medical Education- European Accreditors (CME-EA), a non- profit association of independent accreditors on the European international level. The new association is at the same time open to organisations or individuals involved in CME accreditation, not only on the European international, but also on the national level.
IPCE is whenever “members from two or more professions learn with, from, and about each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes,” as Kate Regnier (ACCME) pointed out at the Cologne Consensus Conference 2017, which was held on Sept. 14/15, 2017 in Cologne, Germany.
While inter-professional collaboration occurs in health-care systems whenever patient outcome is dependent on a team based approach, “IPCE is not intuitive” (Jamie deMaria, Medscape). Barriers for implementation of IPCE include: Resistance to change, lack of leadership (administrative and faculty), crowded curricula, cost factors, few incentives, reimbursement models, separation of professional programs within a campus and across universities, credentialing and accountability at the “individual” level and, lack of accreditation expectations (Regnier).
At the CCC 2017 providers have presented a variety of best practice projects to serve educational needs of teams.
IPCE may represent challenges to accreditors, since different accreditation bodies might be involved, or it maybe difficult to sort out how to achieve accreditation, if a group of health professionals has no accreditation body and/or accreditors do not cooperate in case the same content is going to be presented on multiple occasions in different countries. Since many years EBAC has promoted inter-professional education and practice, and offers accreditation in cooperation with European national as well as international accreditors.
The CCC 2018 will take place on Sept. 13/14, 2018, in Ottawa (hosted by the Royal College) and will discuss “What CPD accreditation data tells us: about activities, providers, learners”.
Also at CCC 2017 EBAC and the Canadian Royal College exchanged certificates of recognition of substantial equivalency of accreditation systems.
Thus, EBAC is the first and only European accreditor to hold an agreement on substantial equivalency with the Royal College and the US Accreditation Council for CME (ACCME).
The European Board for Accreditation in Cardiology (EBAC) is honoured to announce that the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and EBAC have recognized each other’s accreditation systems as substantially equivalent by decisions taken on May 5th, 2017, by the Board of the European Cardiology Section Foundation (ECSF) and the CPD Department of the Royal College, respectively.
Substantial equivalency is a relationship between CME accreditors based on shared principles and values, while recognizing and accepting differences.
To achieve this mutual recognition, EBAC and the Royal College completed a rigorous evaluation process, demonstrating that their accreditation standards advance high quality, effective CME.
This agreement will be followed by a statement on conversion of CME points between both systems. As a result EBAC will offer to Canadian providers to directly issue EBAC certificates to European participants to avoid any additional conversion procedures. Please find the agreement here.
The CCC 2017 is devoted to „Accreditation of interprofessional CME/ CPD“ and takes place on September 14th – 15th, 2017 in Cologne, Germany. This year, it is organized in close cooperation with ACCME and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. A first flyer can be found here.
For live CME activities accreditors have already accepted, that – as long as the minimum duration of the whole event is at least 60 minutes – individual presentations may last well below 60 minutes. This principle now needs to be translated into the field of e-learning, which offers the additional option to accumulate participations over time.
With this regard EBAC has run a workshop in September 2016, involving the experience of major stakeholders in order to come to a definition of principles for accreditation of „micro-e-learning“.
Please find the executive summary of the workshop in the EBAC Newsletter 2016 IV.
Activity accreditation by consensus of independent reviewers
In their recent meeting in Frankfurt on Jan. 28th, 2017 EBAC reviewers discussed the advantages of a process that requires consensus of independent reviewers and confirmed that this should remain as a core principle in the accreditation of CME/CPD activities.
To make this possible EBAC has an interactive electronic reviewing system, which
EBAC (which is a 100% daughter of a non-profit, charitable foundation, the European Cardiology Section Foundation, ECSF) grants equal access to all providers and provides reviews independent from third party influence.
Agreements on substantial equivalency with other accreditors
Agreements on substantial equivalency between accreditors constitute an important element of support and stimulation in their work to develop international best-practice in medical education and its supervision.
EBAC currently is the only European-international accreditor who holds an agreement on mutual recognition of substantial equivalency with the US Accreditation Council for CME (ACCME), and a similar agreement with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada is currently being prepared.
EBAC reviewers fully supported the policy that agreements of substantial equivalency should be reached before any regulations on conversion of CME points between different accreditation systems might be defined.
European CME accreditation in need for harmonisation through consensus
Three years ago several European Specialty Accreditation Boards started an informal collaboration, which now has resulted in a position paper on current aspects in sponsored CME, submitted for publication in the Journal of European CME (JECME). Several of the participating organisations have expressed their wish to not only continue, but to also formalise this cooperative approach, including organisations providing CME accreditation on the national level. EBAC reviewers consider this an outstanding opportunity to promote harmonisation through consensus on principles and rules in accreditation.
