Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development in the European Union

Continuing medical education (CME) and its broader term continuing professional development (CPD) are indispensable as part of lifelong learning and may be regarded as equally or more important than undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. Pharmaceutical medicine occupies common ground between the clinical and healthcare professions, pharmaceutical industry and government, and thus, the same principles are applicable. However, the global status of CME/CPD education in pharmaceutical medicine is alarming. Surveys conducted among pharmaceutical medicine associations from 22 countries and pharmaceutical physicians in the US showed that a relatively low number of CME/CPD activities are developed across countries, a high percentage of pharmaceutical physicians lack formal postgraduate education in pharmaceutical medicine and, additionally, training needs in basic knowledge areas were detected. It is evident that further education efforts are necessary. The CME system has many variations across countries. The CME/CPD model, including credits or hours, is the currency by which regulatory bodies often assess competence all over the world. Accreditation systems have been developed primarily in the US and Europe in an attempt to self-regulate and advance practice standards, as well as to respond to environmental pressures for advancement of healthcare quality and insulation of any commercial influence on education. Initiatives for a European and/or global CME harmonization have been developed. However, the major problem is that the various CME systems are very different and fragmented. In spite of the tremendous amount of resources spent on maintaining and upgrading physicians’ knowledge and skills, the effectiveness of CME in producing changes in practice has been questioned. It has been argued that CME programmes, as currently practiced, do not adequately focus on improving clinical performance and patient health outcomes. The emphasis is put on measuring acquired knowledge based on training hours, instead of assessing competences and skills as a result of professional development. A new CME/CPD outcomes-based model for performance improvement through individualized and standardized education has been proposed, including physician’s self-assessment, self-reflection and practice-based learning. PharmaTrain is a public private partnership sponsored by the EU’s Innovative Medicines Initiative including 24 universities, 13 learned societies/associations and several partner training organizations. PharmaTrain aims to provide courses that are designed to meet the needs of pharmaceutical physicians and other professionals working in medicines development (basic diploma, masters and CME/CPD). The PharmaTrain CPD platform will include diploma and master extension and elective modules, both course based and standalone, aimed to facilitate lifelong learning. The successful development and use of the PharmaTrain CPD platform provides a valuable new opportunity to meet the current standards and expectations for CME/CPD posed by stakeholders and society at large.