Online Continued Medical Education (Cme) Is Need Of The Hour

The world was caught off guards when Covid19 announced its arrival as a form of a pandemic across the globe within a month, inflicting mass casualties in developed countries as Europe and US after China unlike its 6 other disease in last 2 decades; from SARS (2002), Bird flu (2005), Swine flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), Nipah (2018) to the present SARSnCOVID (2019).

                            

While several novel lines of therapies are being tried out with encouraging results, the economic slowdown, logistics problems and casualties we have incurred by this highly infectious virus has been scary. Had it started in the developing world, probably it would not have received so much attention with the usual blame game by the west, eager for a respite with urgency. None is willing to invest in research on tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, diarrhea or rabies, thinking beyond their narrow borders and the myopic vision.

The medical professional’s world over is eager to find a definitive remedy and prevention, having tried several permutations and combinations. The speed, at which the genetic code of n COVID19 has been discerned, is noteworthy. A novel therapeutic molecule is bound to arrive soon. After all, necessity is the mother of invention.

It is high time to turn towards online education platforms, which the Pediatric Association of India has recently embarked upon in order to beam up-to-date scientific contents on relevant topics in pediatrics world over.

Online CME platform is both a viable and workable alternative. It comes with a slew of advantages. The platform does away with the hassles involved in organizing the event that demands great amount of coordination and man-hours.

Recently, Mr. Prakash Bhosale from BBG eBranding Media conducted interviews with renowned doctors & this is what they said.

“It is economical and makes learning more of a democratic exercise at one’s own convenience,” said Dr. Nimain Mohanty, M.D. (PGI), Co-ordinator, Continued Medical Education, Pediatric Association of India, its immediate past president and currently Professor Emeritus Pediatrics, MGM Institute of Health Sciences, Mumbai.

Moreover, doctors who find it difficult participating in CME programmes due to challenging schedules will find the online CME initiatives more convenient to see web-casts, interacting freely with speakers or enjoying the talks from archives at their leisures. Again, it entails minimum cost on the part of the organisers at no cost to the viewers.``The leaps in technology have enabled the online CMEs to be as effective as the physical ones with the added benefit of being more interactive without the limitations of time or the inhibitions of raising questions publicly,” adds Dr. Rajiv Brahmane, MS (Ophthalmology).

“Online CME initiatives offer greater safety, especially in situations like nCOVID pandemic, demanding maintenance of safe physical distance between individuals to prevent community spread,” quips Dr. Banshi Saboo, Chairman & Diabetologist, Dia Care, Ahmedabad, President RSSDI

“Knowledge shared is knowledge squared. In the era of technology, a great way to do this is by providing our doctors access to the knowledge of our experts in the safety of their own homes in the present time of COVID-19 infection. We, therefore, wish to use this new method of teaching to conduct webinars on pertinent topics that can be accessed from all over the country, and provide our members with an easy way to update their knowledge and skills,” Dr. Gandhi further added.

Online learning trend now enjoys government support for developing modules such as MOOC (Massive Open Access Online Courses). Many developers are coming out with innovative ideas and strategies. DocMode – a leading online medical education platform in the country for instance, is offering its technology platform free of cost to the medical fraternity for the purpose. “In a crisis like situation like this, it drives us to explore new options and solutions for disseminating greater awareness and know-how,” says Hans Lewis, Founder and CEO, DocMode.  According to him, online platforms that host CME programmes are bound to be most popular very soon, driving rapid growth and huge success.

Mr. Prakash Bhosale from BBG eBranding Media suggested some efficient platforms offering free courses for medical professionals, DocMode is one such premium platform where doctors can attend free of cost lectures.