Guidelines relating to continuing medical education of physicians
Recommendation of the Finnish Medical Association accepted at a meeting of
its Executive Board on 7 May 1999
Premise
By virtue of their professional activities physicians have both a right to
continuing medical education (CME) and an ethical obligation to participate in
it.
Underlying principles
- CME is important because of continual and rapid increases in quantity of
medical information.
- CME can increase the productivity, efficacy and seamlessness of the
Finnish health-care system.
- In defining CME content, needs of the health-care system, patients and
employers should be taken into account.
- Participation in CME must be voluntary.
- Physicians who seek to improve their professional expertise through
participation in CME of specified quality must be rewarded for doing so.
- In quality assessments of places of employment, organization of CME for
physicians must be taken into account.
Objectives and organization
- CME must be co-ordinated and wide-ranging. The main organizers should be
medical professional bodies and universities.
- CME should improve abilities of physicians to assess their work and extend
their capabilities.
- CME in hospital districts must ensure functioning of evidence-based
regional treatment programmes.
- At local level, financing of the CME of each physician should be linked to
an annual personal CME plan.
Requirements and responsibilities
- Each physician must have a right to external professional CME for at least
two weeks (10 working days) per year, at the expense of his or her employer.
The CME must meet agreed quality criteria. In establishing quantitative
minima for CME, individual practice requirements must be taken into account.
- Physicians should have the possibility of keeping up with developments in
their everyday fields of practice.
- The weekly working hours of a physician must allow at least five hours for
on-the-job-training and personal CME.
- Physicians must document and assess their CME and learning activities.
Updated 17.5.2002 klo 8:58
