The Conseil de l'éducation médicale continue du Quebec (CEMCQ) recently refined the definition of continuing medical education (CME) to include evolving concepts in the field of adult education for practicing professionals.

« CME includes any educational approach aimed at physicians with a view to acquiring, maintaining or upgrading their knowledge, skills or attitudes, in order to improve the quality of care offered to the public. CME includes both individual and group activities, based on a need or interest, which come within the scope of the learning cycle. »

This definition implies undertaking a systematic approach to educational planning and describes the purpose of a continuing education approach, i.e. to improve physician performance and care provided. This process is affected by the professional's responsibility for his/her own learning and evaluation of the resulting changes in personal performance.

In short, the purpose of this document is to help CME providers hone their skills in planning and implementing CME activities. This document therefore offers advice about maintaining competence, adult education, structured planning and teaching methods. It is designed to be a practical working tool for the planning, organization and evaluation of group and individual learning activities.

After studying this document, the reader should he able to:

• Define and explain concepts and principles of adult education and self-directed learning;
  
• Use these concepts and principles when organizing a CME activity, taking into account conditions that promote learning:
  
• Plan a CME activity using a systematic approach;
  
• Define the categories of educational needs and use a variety of methods to determine them;
  
• Formulate learning objectives;
  
• Choose both group and individual learning strategies and use resources best suited to the objectives being pursued;
  
• Choose methods to evaluate the learning activities and the knowledge, skills or attitudes acquired.

Since the first edition of the Vade-mecum in French in 1983, the CEMCQ has gained much experience that can be used to benefit the providers of CME activities. This volume is the first in a sequence of support tools for CME providers. In addition to this volume, a series of sample documents are available to CME providers on CD-ROM.

The general concepts outlined in the first few chapters will help readers understand the approach presented in subsequent chapters. Illustrative examples can be found at the end of most sections. However, it is not necessary to read this document from beginning to end; immediate personal needs may dictate your reading order.

The primary purpose of the Handbook is to be a practical tool for CME providers. We hope that the many tips contained in this volume help CME providers to link theory and practice.

Comments on usage: the users of this handbook may hear the acronyms CME, CE, CHE, CPD used almost interchangeably to describe educational activities for physicians. We define them as follows:

CME: Continuing Medical Education, any educational approach aimed at physicians with a view to acquiring, maintaining or upgrading their knowledge, skills or attitudes, in order to improve the quality of care offered to the public.

CE: Continuing Education, a general term for any education following formal education, broader than medical content and with a target audience wider than health professionals.

CHE: Continuing Health Education, aimed at any or all health professionals, not restricted to physicians.

CPD: Continuing Professional Development, extends beyond traditional CME, which is usually focused on updating clinical medical knowledge, skills and attitudes. CPD addresses competencies relevant to the broad range of a professional's activities, e.g. research, teaching, communication skills, management, advocacy.

For the purpose of this Handbook we will use the term CME, Continuing Medical Education, as it most closely approximates the activities described.