WCM-Q Shares Expertise on Continuing Medical Education

Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) was invited to share its expertise on providing high-quality continuing medical education (CME) at the annual conference of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) – recognized as the leading accreditation body in the US.

WCM-Q is well-qualified to provide advice on CME matters, having been awarded the ACCME’s highest level of accreditation - Accreditation with Commendation – earlier this year. Thanks to that success, members of the WCM-Q Division of Continuing Development (CPD) were asked to join an expert panel at the ACCME’s annual meeting in Chicago to share their strategies, tools and advice on attaining the top level of accreditation with other international medical education institutions.

As part of their involvement, WCM-Q CPD team members Deema Al-Sheikhly, CPD Director, and Laudy Mattar, CPD Manager, presented a workshop entitled ‘Digital Tools to Engage our Lifelong Learners’ at the three-day conference. Ms. Al-Sheikhly also joined a panel of senior executives and CME staff for a discussion session entitled ‘Actualizing Best Practice with ACCME’s Menu of Criteria of Accreditation with Commendation’. In addition, a submission outlining WCM-Q’s innovative programs developed to meet the needs of an evolving healthcare system was published on the ACCME conference app.

Ms. Al-Sheikhly said: “We were delighted to be asked to share our experiences of achieving Accreditation with Commendation from the ACCME with other ambitious CME providers from across the US and beyond. Developing high-quality CME activities for physicians and other medical professionals is a crucial part of ensuring standards of medical care and patient outcomes are continuously improved, so we were extremely keen to both share our knowledge and learn from our peers at other leading medical education institutions.”

WCM-Q achieved Accreditation with Commendation in January by following ‘Option B’, the second of the ACCME’s two sets of advanced accreditation criteria, which requires organizations to advance interprofessional collaborative practice, address public health priorities, create behavioral change, show leadership, leverage educational technology, and demonstrate the impact of education on healthcare professionals and patients.

Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development said: “I am extremely proud and pleased that our WCM-Q CPD team has created a CME program of such quality that we are being invited to share our expertise with other leading medical education institutions around the world. This is testament to the hard work and ambition of Deema Al-Sheikhly and the rest of our extraordinarily dedicated CPD team.”

WCM-Q’s CME/CPD program was initially accredited by the ACCME in 2016, becoming one of the first medical education colleges in the world outside the US to receive such accreditation, which confers the rights and responsibility to designate AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (American Medical Association Physician's Recognition Award). The ACCME Accreditation with Commendation awarded in January extends WCM-Q’s accreditation period until November 2024.