Course Leadership Responsibilities
Course Directors Are Responsible for Assuring that CME Activities Address the Professional Practice Gaps of Physicians, Are Free of Commercial Influence and Are Fiscally Sound.
Who May Serve as Course Directors?
For reasons of financial accountability and adherence to Stanford policies, Course Directors should be full-time faculty members employed by the Stanford School of Medicine. Non full-time faculty may be considered for leadership positions based on compelling need; this requires prior approval by the Associate Dean for CME. Community practitioners with voluntary clinical appointments may participate as a course co-director in concert with a Stanford School of Medicine faculty member.
It is expected that Course Directors familiarize themselves with Stanford CME policies including: Commercial Support, Honorarium, Identification and Resolution of Conflicts of Interests and Venue. The CME staff and Associate Dean for CME are available to answer any questions regarding these policies.
Specific Responsibilities:
Planning a CME Activity
- Selection of a planning committee to coordinate the activity planning process. Planning committees are usually comprised of 3-5 individuals, but in all cases there should be more than one planner. If the Course Director has a conflict of interest relevant to the subject matter of the activity, at least one planning committee member must be non-conflicted and a content expert. Planners’ conflicts of interest must be disclosed and resolved prior to planning the activity.
- The activity is designed to address identified learning needs of physicians derived from professional practice gaps in knowledge, competence or performance in practice.
- These gaps are substantiated by the target audience, expert opinion, scientific literature, national guidelines, maintenance of certification (MoC) requirements and/or quality improvement data.
- Activity planning is documented in the CME Planning Documentation Worksheet & Application.
- The activity is fiscally sound and honoraria payments comply with Stanford policies.
Content of CME Activity
- The content developed must be objective, balanced, based on valid and sound scientific studies, and free of commercial bias.
- Clinical care recommendations, treatments, or manners of practicing presented in the CME activity are based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine, are not known to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits and are not known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.
Disclosures of Relevant Financial Relationships
- Disclosures of relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest must be collected for anyone involved with development and implementation of activity content (planners, speakers, reviewers, moderators, etc.) and sent to the Stanford Center for CME prior to the activity.
- All relevant conflicts of interest must be resolved and documented by the Course Director or designated content expert. If a conflict of interest cannot be resolved, the planner/speaker must be disqualified from participation.
- Disclosures of relevant financial relationships (or no financial relationships) with commercial interests must be presented to the learners prior to the activity by inclusion in the syllabus, by slide or by posting next to the sign in sheets.
- If during a CME activity, course directors/leaders detect commercial influence, it is their responsibility to discuss this with the learners in order to ensure that a fair and balanced program is in place.
Separation of Commercial Activities from Curriculum
- Commercial Interests have no role in the planning or implementation of CME activities.
- Educational materials must be devoid of promotion (e.g. advertising, company logos, product messages) and promotional material must not be displayed or distributed.
Stanford Center for CME 8/21/09
Stanford University School of Medicine Continuing Medical Education Commercial Support Policy
FAQs about Commerical Support