Mission

Purpose 

Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care, and the advancement of the art and science of medicine through the maintenance of scientific and clinical scholarship. To this end, the mission of its Continuing Medical Education program is to: 

1. Provide educational opportunities for physicians and other allied health professionals based on identified needs that will lead to the improved health care of patients now and for future generations. 
2. Convey emerging scientific knowledge to physicians and other health care professionals by offering educational activities that contribute to improved research and practice in the science, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness and disease.
3. Improve the career satisfaction of physicians and other allied health professionals by providing them with educational opportunities that keep them abreast of the latest developments in medicine, while simultaneously offering CME faculty and participants the opportunity to interact with one another personally and professionally. 

Values

The Weill Cornell CME program will collaborate with our academic and medical partners to ensure that activities are designed, delivered and evaluated to mutually benefit all and to fulfill our intention to improve clinical care.  The following values are important tenets of all CME offerings: 

CME should include information that is grounded in cutting edge science and medicine: CME offerings are based on the latest scientific research, both in clinical medicine and the basic sciences.

CME should provide evidence-based clinical recommendations to clinicians that are free from industry bias: Scientific information provided will be objective, balanced, evidence-based, and relevant to clinical practice.

CME should be intellectually stimulating: CME activities are intended to provide an opportunity for intellectually stimulating experiences that encourage dialogue and discovery. Whenever possible, creative and interactive learning strategies will be encouraged.

 CME should be a collaborative effort: When feasible, activities will facilitate collaborative interactions to facilitate physicians and other health professionals in different disciplines to make connections that are relevant to their collaborative work. We intend to foster an atmosphere in which individual characteristics are respected and where both differences and similarities are valued. Our goal is to create a collaborative working and learning environment.

Participating Learners

We intend to work with clinical care partners to improve patient health. 

As such, intended participants for Weill Cornell’s CME activities are as follows:

1. Physicians on the faculty and staff of the Medical College and its affiliated hospitals
2. Alumni(ae) of the Medical College and the NewYork - Presbyterian Health Care System.
3. Weill Cornell Medical College students and NYP graduate house staff.
4. Physicians in the Northeast United States and local Tri-state Area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut), as well as Physicians throughout the United States and Internationally.
5. Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students
6. Nurses, Social Workers, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants and other allied health practitioners.
7. Patients and members of the community at large.

Expected Outcomes

The overall CME program at Weill Cornell should result in activities that succeed in the transmission of medical information which leads to participants’ increased knowledge, competence and enhanced performance, and in turn improves patient care.  Understanding the impact of our CME activities on patient care is central to the mission of our program.  As such, we intend to assess the outcome of our activities, with strategies that assess improvements in multidisciplinary patient care, and participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice behaviors as a result of participation.  Methods for doing so will include, but not be limited to, evaluations of participant satisfaction, pre- and post-activity knowledge assessment, self-reported change (intended and actual) in practice performance, and objective assessments of quality of patient care and patient satisfaction.

The overall CME program will also engage in a process of self-evaluation to ensure that we make changes to improve our ability to fulfill our CME Mission.

Content/Format

The content of CME activities offered by Weill Cornell is intended to cover all primary care and specialty areas in medicine.  CME offerings for regional, national, and international audiences should concentrate on disciplines where the Medical College and its affiliates have recognized excellence. In-house offerings should attempt to complement the Medical College’s academic and clinical strengths.  The content and format of CME activities are based on identified practice gaps and educational needs and on optimal learning methods for the intended audience.

Types of Activities Offered 

The Medical College CME Program offers a wide variety of educational activities, including:

1. Regularly scheduled series (RSSs) such as Grand Rounds.
2. Live courses and workshops.
3. Enduring materials, including print, electronic, and Internet-based activities.
4. Jointly provided activities in collaboration with outside organizations of recognized merit.
5. When possible, new and innovative learning modalities that utilize the varied resources of our academic environment, either as bona fide CME activities, or as ancillary learning strategies.