Types of Courses

Course Format	Description
Live Courses	an individual event where participants learn in person.
Enduring Materials (online only)	computer based continuing education activities that may be used over time or at the learner’s convenience.
Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) (internal only)	a course that is planned as a series with multiple sessions, or occurs on an ongoing basis (ex. weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc).

Types of Credits

Boston Children’s Hospital offers accreditation for the following credits:

AMA PRA CATEGORY 1 CREDIT^TM: 

AMA PRA Category 1Credit^TM represents that the physician has participated in an educational activity, and completed all requirements for such an activity, that is expected to “serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public or the profession” as stated in the AMA’s definition of CME. (Source: American Medical Association)

NURSING CREDITS:
As a part of our Joint Accreditation status, we are approved to provide continuing education credits for Nurses from the American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC) which can be used for re-licensure needs.

PHARMACY CREDITS:
As a part of our Joint Accreditation status, we are approved to provide continuing education credits for Pharmacists from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) which can be used for re-licensure needs.

SOCIAL WORK CREDITS:
As a part of our Joint Accreditation status, we are approved to provide continuing education credits for Social Workers from the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) which can be used for re-licensure needs.

PSYCHOLOGY CREDITS:
As a part of our Joint Accreditation status, we are approved to provide continuing education credits for Psychologists from the American Psychological Association (APA) which can be used for re-licensure needs.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT NEEDS:
As a part of our Joint Accreditation status, we are approved to provide continuing education credits for Physician Assistants from the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) which can be used for re-licensure needs.

OPTOMETRY CREDITS:
As a part of our Joint Accreditation status, we are approved to provide continuing education credits for Optometrists from the American Optometric Association (AOA) Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry, Inc. Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE) which can be used for re-licensure needs.

CONTINUING DENTAL EDUCATION:
Boston Children’s Hospital has been recognized by the American Dental Association’s Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP) as a provider of continuing dental education.

MOC II POINTS:
MOC II points are an additional credit type that physicians within the United States need to claim in order to maintain their specialty board license. The four boards that we currently approve for are American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), American Board of Anesthesia (ABA), American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), American Board of Pathology (ABPath), American Board of Opthamology (ABO), and the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (ABOHNS).

RISK MANAGEMENT CREDITS:
Risk Management credits are a credit type that physicians within the United States are required to get in order to meet their re-licensure needs. Risk Management must include instruction in medical malpractice prevention such as risk identification, patient safety, and loss prevention. In addition, it may include courses in medical ethics, quality assurance, medical-legal issues, patient relations, non-economic aspects of practice management, or courses designed to reduce the likelihood of medical malpractice through means other than increasing the licensee’s medical education and technical competence. Risk management study also includes a review of the Board’s Patient Care Assessment regulations (243 CMR 3.01-3.16) and participation on designated peer review committees dealing with quality assurance (Definition from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts).

PHARMACOLOGY CREDITS:
Nurse Practitioners are required to have a certain number of credits associated with pharmacotherapeutics education for re-licensure. This education is self-claimed by the participant but we have assigned the number of credits that can be claimed if pharmacology is a relevant topic within the online course.

We can assist with the application process, but do not hold accreditation for:

• Physical Therapist Credits

Joint Accreditation^TM offers organizations the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to provide medical, nursing, and pharmacy continuing education activities through a single, unified application process, fee structure, and set of accreditation standards. Joint Accreditation^TM is the first and only process in the world offering this benefit.

This collaboration is between:

• Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
• Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)

Board of Certification (BOC) for Athletic Trainers 

Boston Children’s Hospital is approved by the Board of Certification, Inc. (BOC) to offer continuing education to Certified Athletic Trainers through compliance with the Standards for BOC Approved Providers. BOC Approved Providers are qualified to offer Level 1 Category A continuing education programs.

American Dental Association Continuing Education Recognition Program

Boston Children’s Hospital is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider. ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nore does it imply acceptance of credit hourse by boards of dentistry. Concerns or complaints about a CE provider may be directed to the provider or to the Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition at ADA.org/CERP.

Boston Children’s is also accredited by: 

• American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA)
• Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE)

Clear, measurable objectives tell your learners what to expect from your program. They also help you select appropriate teaching strategies and develop useful methods for assessment. Each course has a purpose or purposes that will go along with the learners needs. To show these themes it is necessary to list the goals of the course. For a continuing education program it is suggested to have between 3 and 5 objectives. In larger courses it may be necessary to separate the objectives based on the program.

Here are some sample objectives:

• develop strategies to manage a wide range of urological conditions in children
• analyze current techniques for surgical management of congenital and acquired urological conditions
• determine when a patient can be safely managed in the general pediatric clinic, and when subspecialty referral is appropriate
• determine the bench to beside applications of recent scientific advances to the clinical care of children
• evaluate traditional principles of care in light of recent scientific advances in pediatrics

Joint Accreditation^TM requires that all accredited continuing education providers design activities to change competence, and/or performance, and/or patient health. Providers must also measure the effectiveness of continuing education activities in fostering these changes. Continuing education activity directors are challenged, therefore, to develop objectives and content with the outcome of “change” in mind. Outcomes-based education starts from a simple premise: that the content should be defined by the desired outcomes. All elements of the planning process are therefore connected and held together by the overall purpose of the activity.

Writing clear learning objectives is an important educational practice that helps connect educational needs with content. The course learning objectives are derived from the identified needs and specify, ideally in measurable terms, what learners should be able to do after participating in the activity. Objectives are concise, well-written statements that express desired outcomes.

Clearly stated activity objectives act as guidelines to the development of content. Content may be sought or solicited based on what course planners feel will best achieve the stated objectives. In the same way, suggested content is held to the standard of the objectives and accepted or discarded based on its ability to meet the objectives.

Guide to Writing Learning Objectives

The review process for completed applications (not including corrections and edits) can take up to eight weeks.

Completed applications must be submitted to continuingeducation@childrens.harvard.edu a minimum of 8 weeks prior to the intended activity date. Credit cannot be awarded retroactively.

If you would like the CME Department to market your course, completed applications must be delivered to the CME Department no later than 4 months for local programs, 6 months for national programs and 12 months for international program prior to the start of the activity. These dates will help ensure we can market your program in a timely manner.

To begin requesting commercial support, please email us at continuingeducation@childrens.harvard.edu so that we can meet to discuss your needs.

Yes, you can have exhibitors at the educational activity. Please ensure that all signed exhibitor support forms are provided to the CME Department prior to the start of your activity.

All exhibitors must be placed in location that does not require attendees to pass through or interact with representatives if they do not wish to. This includes hallways to restrooms or educational spaces. Exhibitors may watch lectures but they are not allowed to promote or discuss their product while in the educational space.

Commercial Support: The ACCME defines a commercial interest as “any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients. The ACCME does not consider providers of clinical service directly to patients to be commercial interests.” Commercial support is when a commercial interest provides money, goods or services to an activity. How the money is spent is up to the discretion of the provider and course director. Arrangements for commercial exhibits or advertisements cannot influence planning or interfere with the presentation, nor can they be a condition of the provision of commercial support for CME activities (ACCME). All commercial support solicitation and requests must go through Boston Children’s Hospital Trust.*

Exhibitors: Commercial exhibits and advertisements are promotional activities and not continuing medical education. Therefore, monies paid by commercial interests to providers for these promotional activities are not considered to be commercial support. All exhibitor funds should be revenue for the course, and do not have any relation to commercial support received (ACCME). *

*Rule for Both: Providers must ensure that their learners can participate in educational activities without seeing, reading or hearing promotional or marketing information from commercial interests. Further, accredited providers must ensure that the selling of advertising or exhibit space is a business transaction entirely separate from the acceptance of commercial support for accredited CME. (ACCME)

More Information: http://www.accme.org/requirements/accreditation-requirements-cme-providers/standards-for-commercial-support

A disclosure form is a document collected by the CME Department that asks all persons involved in an activity to disclose if they have any relevant financial relationships that could impact the content of the activity. Everyone that is involved in the course including, but not limited to: course directors, planning committee members, course coordinators, course administrators, speakers, and facilitators are required to fill out a disclosure form prior to the start of the activity.

The CloudCME Portal houses all of Boston Children’s Hospital’s upcoming live course and registration pages. It creates easy access to your credits, evaluations, and presentation slides.

Yes. In order to register for an event, you must have a CloudCME account as this is how your attendance is tracked, where all presentation slides are kept, and the only way to register for our events.A cloudCME account will be automatically created when you registered for a course. If you have attended a live Boston Children’s course in the past, you will already have an account.

An account will be created automatically when you register for a course.

If you wish to create an account without registering for a course, select the yellow “Sign Up” button on the right hand side of the screen. Complete all required fields (in red) and select which type of credits you would like to claim and submit. You will be redirected to the CloudCME homepage and automatically logged in.

On the main CloudCME page, click Sign In in the upper left hand corner. Then click “Forgot your password?” and enter in your email address.

This is likely because your name and email has been sent to our department via another course that you have attended. In order to log your attendance and award you credit, our system created an account for you. To create a new password, please click “Forgot your password?” link when on the Sign In screen.

All your BCH credits are logged on the Transcript screen of your profile. Transcripts, like certificates, can be submitted for relicensure. To access your transcript, click the yellow My CE button on the top right, and then select transcript. A PDF will generate on the screen for you to view, download, or email.

Click the yellow “My CE” button in the top right. Select “Evaluation” then select the conference you are evaluating. Once you complete the evaluation, a certificate will be automatically generated.

After signing in, click the yellow faculty button in the top right. Then click “Disclosure of Financial Relationships” and complete the disclosure form.

To access presentation slides, click the yellow “My CE” button in the top right. Then select “Syllabus.” Click the blue syllabus button that corresponds with the course you attended. Once you click on the title of a presentation, a PDF will begin downloading.

Yes. Click the yellow “My CE” button in the top right. Select “Registrations and Receipts” to view all courses you have already registered for.

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