By Jock Hoffman, CRICO
Carving out time for patient safety education and training is a challenge. The pressures of day-to-day practice can detract your time and attention …until something bad happens—to a colleague, or in your own practice. Of course, physicians who do find the time to learn how to reduce their risk of patient harm and an allegation of malpractice, are more likely to avoid those circumstances.
In Massachusetts*, CRICO’s philosophy is reinforced by the Board of Registration in Medicine’s Continuing Professional Development (formerly Continuing Medical Education/CME) requirements, which dictate specific education categories, including risk management study:
Physicians must accrue 10 credits of risk management study every two years. Four credits must be in Category 1. The additional six credits may be in Category 1 or Category 2 risk management study.
Risk management study must include instruction in medical malpractice such as patient safety and loss prevention. Activities that meet these criteria may include courses in quality assurance, bioethics, end-of-life care studies, opioid and pain management, as well as non-economic aspects of practice management. All of CRICO’s CME activities are designed to be suitable for risk management study, including our newest publication, Insight and our podcasts. CRICO’s most recent issue, Insight into Communication Challenges, offers actionable data, expertise, and personal physician perspectives on this universal area of risk. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine has endorsed Insight and our podcasts for Category 1 credit.As a CRICO-insured physician, you can find help meeting these requirements through our website. CRICO is proud to be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. We work side-by-side with a network of Harvard experts to develop activities designed to help you decrease patient harm. Of course, the Risk Management or Patient Safety departments at the hospitals and other organizations you work with—or for—also offer opportunities for CME and Risk Management credits.
No matter where you chose to go for quality patient safety and risk management education and training, it is certain to beat trial and error.
*Look here for CME and risk management study requirements in other states. Through CRICO Strategies, non-CRICO insured clinicians can gain access to education based on clinically coded malpractice data.
Additional Material
- Continuing Medical Education Requirements for Physician License Renewal in Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine’s FAQs about Continuing Professional Development Credits
Original Source, Strategies for Patient Safety
