Ophthalmic Education:

Request for Information from ICO Task Force on CME

Below is the email sent on February 12, 2009 from Juan Verdaguer, MD, Chair of the ICO Task Force on Continuing Medical Education to the presidents of ICO members and other ophhalmologic societies.

Dear Dr. (Last name),

The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) Continuing Medical Education (CME) Task Force was established to assist in the development CME programs worldwide. We are well aware that societies of ophthalmology throughout the world organize CME activities, such as congresses, courses, other educational materials, journals and Web sites. We want to learn first about CME activities already in place.

In this letter, I am requesting your collaboration, both by completing a brief survey and by naming an individual to work with the ICO on CME.

Please complete the survey by clicking on the link below:

www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?
sm=9Z06G_2bYTV1KCw5_2bxzaZ5kQ_3d_3d

(If clicking on the link above does not take you to Survey Monkey, you can copy and paste the address into a Web browser.)

Please complete the survey by February 23 if at all possible. It will not take long, and we want to hear from all ICO members and other ophthalmologic societies.

We would also like to invite you to work with the ICO on enhancing CME around the world. If your Society does not have a formal CME program in place, directed by a Society CME Committee, we would encourage you to name a colleague to chair and organize a CME Committee. Please let us know who is responsible for CME within your society in your response to the survey above.

Please note that the ICO does not intend to interfere with national guidelines or CME programs. Even if the doctors in your country may not require certification to continue practicing ophthalmology, the establishment of a formal program, with diplomas given periodically to those ophthalmologists who successfully complete CME offerings, will undoubtedly be a stimulus for updating knowledge and skills.

Besides, it will improve attendance and participation in all educational activities organized or sponsored by your Society.We sincerely appreciate your response and cooperation. We will be delighted to correspond with your CME Committee Chair.

Cordially,

Juan Verdaguer T., MD
Chair, ICO International Task Force on Continuing Medical Education

c.c. Bruce Spivey, MD, President ICO
      Hilel Lewis, MD, President ICO Foundation
      Mark Tso, MD, ICO Director for Education

For more information, see:

ICO Guidelines for Ophthalmologic Society CME (www.icoph.org/pdf/icocmereq.pdf)

ICO Principles and Guidelines of a Curriculum for Continuing Medical Education in Ophthalmology (www.icoph.org/pdf/icocurricmed.pdf)

Next: News of ophthalmic education.

Also see: ICO Ophthalmic Education Programs