The CMOA became aware of the Continuing Professional Development Programme (CPDP) run by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) following a presentation by Brooke Murphy at the Educational Conference held at the Novotel Hotel, Brighton-le-Sands in February 1998. Many CMOs present thought that the program, developed by the RCPA for its own members, was particularly suitable for CMOs.

In essence the CPDP is an electronic Continuing Medical Education (CME) program that allows the person themselves to decide what is suitable education and how best to organise this. The underlying premise being that a reflective physician - one who contemplates their own practice, the problems, skills and knowledge involved - is the one who is best suited to direct their own professional development.

Following negotiations with the RCPA, this programme is now available to our members and ASCMO's Committee strongly recommends this as suitable evidence of CME for all CMOs. The RCPA has been very supportive in making this second version of the CPDP available to CMOs.

Some details:

Cost:

$ 55.00 per annum for Electronic format
$110.00 for Manual version (associated material and administative costs are higher)

Availability: To all financial members of ASCMO

How does it work? When you have the program loaded on to your PC simply log on on a regular basis (eg daily, weekly) and note down your learning experiences - be they generated in a work environment (eg difficult case), tutorial, literature scanning or other area. The program can then, if you wish, organise these interactions according to time spent (per week, month or year) and subject matter for an appropriate report suitable for yourself, your employers, a medical college or an educational institution.. All that is required from the individual is a regular commitment to log in their significant CME. A further benefit is the possibility of using this program to compare aspects of education for all CMOs. For example, how much time do CMOs spend weekly on CME? What areas are perceived as difficult by CMOs?

How widely recognised is this Program? Recognised by RCPA, ASCMO and by other Colleges and Medical Institutions. We are currently investigating the possibility of having the RACGP accept this program for those CMOs who also work as GPs.

What to do if you want to be involved in CME but don't have a computer or are not computer-literate? Contact ASCMO's Education Officer and ask for a manual version. Contact details are located in the accompanying application form.

A final note: All medical practitioners must be involved in some form of continuing medical education - whether this is from an external source such as the MOPS (Maintenance of Professional Standards) schemes or generated wholly by the practitioners themselves.

It is a fact that CME is now expected to be undertaken and there needs to be proof of this for hospitals, educational institutions and increasingly, the general public. Your representatives on ASCMO's committee have looked long and hard at CME and believe that this programme is an excellent investment for the Association and its members. Please fill in the application and send off to the RCPA at the address printed on the form.

John Egan
Education Officer
ASCMO Inc.