ACCME recently announced the launch of their Web-based PARS system for reporting multiple CME activities through one “batch upload” process to their database. Our EthosCE Learning Management System supports the ACCME PARS reporting standard through our “one click” publishing tool. Now, CME organizations can automatically create ACCME PARS reports and submit them in a fraction of the time compared to the common manual entry process.
ACCME states that PARS is right for organizations who answer “YES” to the following questions:
Does your organization conduct many CME activities each year?
Are you currently using a database or CME tracking system to record data about your CME activities?
“PARS was designed with flexibility in mind. If you conduct several CME activities each year, it’s likely that you’re using a database, spreadsheet, or some other tracking system to store the data that the ACCME requires you to have about your CME program and activities. PARS allows you to upload bulk or batch data for many activities at one time. This can help you to greatly reduce the time and effort needed to put your CME activity data into PARS.”
Our EthosCE Learning Management System’s built-in ACCME PARS “one-click” data collection and reporting feature is designed to automate ACCME reporting, increase compliance, and decrease administrative costs.
Our team has been working extensively with Moodle Learning Management System for a number of years to support our medical association, university, and hospital clients’ continuing medical education (CME) and training programs. Moodle is widely considered the industry-leading open source learning management system and is extraordinarily powerful. This free software enables organizations to easily create, manage, and deliver live and Web-based training, assessments, and reporting through a Web browser. In addition to those common LMS features, you can leverage a wealth of new modules and features contributed by thousands of developers in the Moodle Community.
In 2007, we decided to further extend the features of Moodle by integrating it with Drupal Content Management System. The result: an enterprise-level content-learning management system called EthosCE. EthosCE is a powerful, highly customizable Web platform designed to streamline the administration and delivery of CME and training programs for healthcare professionals. Now, organizations such as American Society of Anesthesiologists, United Healthcare, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Office of Continuing Medical Education, can easily manage their education programs within one Web-based application. And, as an open source application, there are no annual licensing fees or restrictions on the number of courses, learners, and administrators.
The below presentation provides a nice overview of the evolution of Moodle and its wealth of features. The advent of open source applications, such as EthosCE, Moodle, and Drupal, truly represent a giant leap forward for e-learning technologies designed for the healthcare community.
Wealth of New Research on Mobile Health Metrics – Recent weeks have brought a new flurry of mobile health-related metrics from established research firms as well as from deployments of mobile health services and devices. Here’s the redux: ABI Research reported this week that mobile data services for health care will grow to $7.7 billion worldwide by 2014. These services include non-voice and non-WiFi mobile services. The figure means that healthcare will account for 10 percent of all mobile data service revenues in 2014.
CDC – Gateway to Health Communication & Social Marketing Practice – CDC’s Gateway to communication practice! Here you can access many resources to help build your health communication or social marketing campaigns and programs. Whether you are looking for tips for analyzing and segmenting an audience, choosing appropriate channels and tools, or evaluating the success of your messages or campaigns, it’s all here in one place!
FDA’s 1st Social Sharing Spanking: Was it the Medium, the Message, or the Metadata? | Pharma Marketer – On July 29, 2010, the Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a notice of violation letter to Novartis indicating that communications created by a social media sharing widget on several Tasigna Web sites violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and FDA implementing regulations. The letter was made public August 5, 2010.
Novartis Launches Game to Raise Awareness of Ticks – Novartis Vaccines has launched a new health game targeting the German market to raise awareness of tick-born encephalitis (in German, Zeckenencephalitis). Zeck Attack is a simple arcade-style game in which players shoot ticks at unsuspecting victims who are relaxing in parks and other outdoor settings. It’s a classic race against the clock in which points are earned for each person shot with a tick, and points are lost if you accidentally shoot a doctor holding a vaccine.
Cancer care by telephone – ONA – A recently published paper describes the use of telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and distress symptoms after hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. The authors conclude that CBT by phone is effective for reducing illness-related PTSD symptoms and general distress.
