OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL AND CONTINUING EDUCATION RECEIVES ANNUAL AWARD FOR DIABETES DVD
UNT Health Science Center’s Office of Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) recently received the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education’s annual award for Most Outstanding Industry-Supported Certified Continuing Medical Education Activity.The award recognizes one CME activity each year that most effectively illustrates a genuine partnership between a CME provider and an industry supporter. PACE received the award for Changing Course: Diagnosing & Treating Type II Diabetes, a DVD-based activity released in 2005.
“This award is a great honor,” said Pam McFadden, associate vice president of PACE. “To know you did a great job is one thing, but to be recognized by your peers and such a respected organization as the ACME is on a completely different level. Each one of my staff members played a role in this project, and each person shares in this award.”
Changing Course was funded with an educational grant from the sanofi-aventis group, a Bridgewater, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company. “We worked closely with sanofi-aventis to make this project a reality, especially Dr. Kent Porter, a metabolism regional medical manager from Medical Affairs,” McFadden said. “Dr. Porter provided us with late-breaking scientific information over the course of the development phase and objective feedback when we asked him to review portions of the edited video. He respected our need for autonomy and independence, but contributed to this scientifically-sound and clinically relevant continuing education activity while staying well within all CME guidelines.”
Changing Course is an innovative CME activity targeted to primary care offices. Some of the nation’s leading experts in type 2 diabetes were interviewed about the disease for the DVD. Their responses were compiled to help primary care offices better diagnose and treat patients with diabetes.
More than 1000 DVD kits have been distributed around the country, with each one offering up to six hours of CME credit for an unlimited number of health professionals.
Earlier this year, the activity was awarded the bronze medal in the CME category at the international conference of the Health Sciences Communications Association in Seattle.
The Alliance for Continuing Medical Education is the international association for CME professionals. The award will be presented on Jan. 25 at the Alliance’s 2006 annual CME provider conference in San Francisco.
The Office of Professional and Continuing Education at UNT Health Science Center registers more than 18,000 healthcare professionals at more than 600 activities throughout the United States each year.
PACE is one of only seven providers in the country that are nationally accredited by both the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education and the American Osteopathic Association.
During its last accreditation cycle, PACE received Accreditation with Commendation from the ACCME for its exemplary procedures and processes and a perfect score from the AOA.
PACE also maintains providership status by the Texas Nurses Association, the National Commission for Health Educator Credentialing, Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners and has formed strategic alliances to educate pharmacists and other members of the healthcare team.
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Contact: Kay Colley 817-735-2553, cell 817-980-5090, e-mail kacolley@hsc.unt.edu.
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