The History of Continuing Medical Education

Continuing medical education ensures health care professionals remain current with medical practices.

Continuing medical education began as a means of ensuring physicians and health care professionals maintained competency and remained current with new discoveries and trends within the field of medicine. The American Medical Association, or AMA, included continuing medical education in its guidelines for good medical practice in 1957.

Origins

Prior to formal medical education programs, continuing medical education existed in the form of peer discussions since the start of the medical profession. However, the discovery of deficiencies in physician's training in the late 1920s brought formal continuing medical education into existence.

Formal

Medical schools formalized continuing medical education in the specialty of urology in 1934, and a standard organization for continuing medical education, the Society for American Continuing Medical Education, or SACME, was established April 2, 1976.

Contemporary

In the early 20th century, the AMA started continuing medical education programs targeting patients, and beginning January 1, 2000, state licensing boards such as the Virginia Board of Medicine mandated physicians participate in 60 hours of continuing medical education every 2 years.

References

• Pub Med: History of Continuing Medical Education
• The Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education: About Us
• Virginia Commonwealth University: Understanding Continuing Medical Education