Published in UAB Insight, Spring 2008
Educational Resources and Needs Assessment
UAB’s Division of Continuing Medical Education (CME) Alabama Practice-Based CME Network (APBN) facilitates physician practice improvement and maintenance of competence to improve health outcomes in complex adult patients. The practice-based organization incorporates input from health care professionals to recognize and respond to community physician and School of Medicine (SOM) faculty needs. “It places a large array of practice-enriching materials developed by expert teams at the disposal of practicing physicians,” says Jeroan J. Allison, MD, MS, assistant dean and director of the Division of CME.
The Alabama network includes 574 physicians, physicians’ assistants, and nurses in primary care specialties. A Mississippi arm has more than 200 members. Interactions with network members occur through dissemination of educational information and CME materials, participation in research projects, and needs assessment.
Dissemination of Information
The APBN provides members with evidence-based educational content. Educational materials and resources focus on complex adult patients with multiple comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, and community-acquired illnesses such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Members receive a subscription to The Medical Letter and access to patient education materials. Literature searches and article delivery also are available.
Information is exchanged through the Web site and its forum, a monthly newsletter, and surveys. Physicians specify their preferred method of information exchange, selecting printed materials, facsimile, or e-mail. This two-way exchange enables the network to address individual and aggregate concerns.
CME offerings are tailored to needs expressed by individual physicians and focus on the care of complex patients. For example, the APBN has a monthly Web-based CME on a geriatric topic identified as most salient to members’ practices.
Research Support
The network contributes to community collaborations and grant projects and ushers clinical research into daily practice. It provides a target audience for dissemination of educational interventions undergoing study and assists SOM researchers in recruiting participants for their research projects. “Investigators can access a sample of physicians and other health care professionals interested in participating in educational needs assessment and in self-reflection on practice,” says Katie Crenshaw, JD, MSEd, assistant director of CME. “By participating in federally sponsored research, network participants improve patient care and practice management skills,” Allison says.
The Web site lists UAB research projects on topics such as obesity quality of care, colorectal cancer screening, rural diabetes online care, and medication use.
Members of the Alabama and Mississippi networks help researchers and educators identify areas of learning and practice need. Members respond to questionnaires and participate in focus groups to highlight gaps in knowledge, performance, or competence. The APBN partners with AQAF (formerly, Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation) to help physicians improve patient health outcomes, supporting AQAF efforts to enhance physician performance on process-level health indicators such as diabetes care and mammography screening.
For more information:
Katie Crenshaw
Dr. Jeroan Allison
1.800.UAB.MIST
mist@uabmc.edu