Here, under the direction of Kay O'Neill, program coordinator senior, a team of four, with the help of the CME Committee members, plans, coordinates and facilitates continuing medical education (CME) opportunities. Their mission is to encourage a desire for lifelong independent learning on the part of health-care professionals and to promote quality CME activities that lead to improved patient-care outcomes.
Kathy Fisher, continuing education coordinator of OCME's full conference services, as well as grand rounds, is in charge of planning and managing CME events that range from half-day meetings to multiple-day conferences. The process, she explains, begins with an idea - usually a faculty member's - that becomes a proposal that goes before a committee to determine whether the idea should become an accredited event. A "yes" decision means a commitment of hundreds of hours to managing all the details, from planning, marketing and promoting the event to registering participants, managing and paying expenditures, soliciting bids, negotiating contracts for hotels and other venues, and preparing grant requests and letters of agreement.
"Some departments add responsibilities for their events to staff members' regular duties, but that short-changes the department," Fisher says. "Not only is the staff member at risk for burn-out, but the regular departmental duties usually take a back seat to the event."
OCME also facilitates live courses, Internet programs and self-paced instructional activities to help health-care professionals stay abreast of the rapid changes in their fields. Last year alone, more than 35,000 health-care professionals in Arizona and throughout the nation took advantage of these opportunities to earn CME credits through the UA College of Medicine. To find out more about OCME, call 626-7895 or visit www.ocme.arizona.edu
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