CME Mission

The mission of Saint Louis University School of Medicine is to educate future professionals to practice and advance knowledge in medicine and the sciences relevant to medicine. The educational approach embraces integrated activities in basic and clinical research, in provision of patient-centered, compassionate, culturally competent health care, and involvement with the community through public service. These diverse educational experiences prepare individuals for careers and leadership roles in medicine and the medical sciences through training grounded in an understanding of the scientific method and an appreciation for personal commitment and service to others.

To its students Saint Louis University School of Medicine seeks to impart the following values:

• A concern for the sanctity of human life.
• A commitment to dignity and respect in the provision of medical care to all patients.
• A devotion to social justice, particularly as regards inequities in availability of and access to health care.
• Humility in awareness of medicine’s inherent limitations in the cure of illness.
• An appreciation for all of the factors that affect a person’s state of health or illness.
• A mature and well-balanced professional behavior that derives from comfortable relationships with members of the human family and one’s Creator.
• Continuing Medical Education reflects the mission of the School of Medicine by providing high-quality postgraduate medical education to promote life long learning for physicians. Our focus is to increase competency or performance with resultant improvement in patient care and outcomes.

Purpose

To promote continuous improvement in patient care by providing physicians and other health care professionals with educational activities that improve knowledge and competencies and enhance their performance in treating patients. Continuing Medical Education (CME) accredits a spectrum of activities that attract local, regional, national and international attendees. These activities include, but are not limited to, updating knowledge and technical skills; providing clinical and practice management instruction; defining the functions of various health professionals and the interdisciplinary team; certifying/affirming basic and advanced medical skills; and developing appropriate physician-patient relationship skills.

CME works with stake holders within the University to assure that our learners are receiving the highest quality education to ensure improved patient outcomes.

Content

Saint Louis University School of Medicine utilizes the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) core competencies as a basis for the content areas of our regularly scheduled activities. They include clinical care, medical knowledge, professionalism, communication skills, practice-based improvement, and systems-based practice. With these core competencies as a platform, content is developed based on the needs of physicians within departments of the school of medicine. Other CME activities offered are developed by using needs assessment, gap analysis, and need for physician skills improvement. These activities include diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease; efficient and cost-effective health care-delivery; medical ethics; clinical research; professionalism; and in depth education and updates in the use of surgical instruments and procedures.

Target Audience

CME activities are structured primarily for practicing physicians along with fellows and residents. Each activity is assessed to determine if the educational content also would be of value to allied health professionals including nurses, physician assistants, social workers, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. If the educational content supports a multidisciplinary approach and the conjoined training would be of value in better patient outcomes then CME partners with the Schools of Nursing or Allied Health to aid in offering these types of continuing educational units.

Types of Activities
Activities of the CME Program:

• Regularly Scheduled Series
• Live Courses
• Skills Workshops
• Enduring Material

Areas of excellence include:

• Practical Anatomy and Surgical Education hands-on cadaver workshops that teach surgical skills and instrumentation using specially prepared cadavers.
• Medical Legal Death Investigator’s Training Courses
• Geriatrics Educational Conference
• Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support Training

Expected Results of the Program

We expect our learners will report an increase in knowledge based on exposure to best practice and evidence based medicine and will intend to change their behavior for better patient outcomes. We expect that performance will be enhanced by exposure to the hands-on skills lab courses and repeated use of instrumentation on specially prepared cadavers. We also expect that our learners will be able to demonstrate competence and effective use of targeted skills.

The results of evaluations and surveys will be analyzed to determine if the SLU CME Mission has resulted in improvement to physician knowledge, competence, and performance in practice for better patient outcomes through the educational activities that we offer.

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