Real-time education makes headlines

Do physicians need a CNN for CME? Some vendors think so and are implementing real-time educational offerings.

“The doctor will not accept in their consumer life what they accept in their professional life: that the forest fire happened two months ago and they hear about it now for the first time,” said Bob Stern, CEO of breaking medical news site MedPage Today. “That's an unacceptable experience.”

The “rapid-distribution” model of presenting news from meetings or journals with credit is becoming more important as a way to meet physician needs, agreed Mario Nacinovich, Jr., co-founder/co-CEO, Fission Communications. Indeed, “some CME stakeholders are reconsidering the lengthy content development and production processes associated with traditional enduring materials,” he said.

That's not to say the traditional model is dead—far from it. According to a recent Pri-Med study, readership of one of its print CME newsletters rose 85% from 2005 to 2006. The study shows physicians still value print as a way to obtain information on new treatment options and therapies, Pri-Med's director of physician insights, Anne Goodrich, said.

Others making the immediacy push include vendors such as Epocrates, which disseminates scientific findings in lessons on handheld devices.