Advances in Medical Education and Practice (Sep 2019)
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) for continuing medical education – why and how?
Abstract
Sajita Setia,1 Jam Chin Tay,2 Yook Chin Chia,3 Kannan Subramaniam4 1Transform Medical Communications, Wanganui, New Zealand; 2Department of General Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore; 3Department of Medical Sciences, School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; 4Research, Development and Medical, Emerging Markets, Upjohn – a Pfizer Division, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaCorrespondence: Sajita SetiaTransform Medical Communications, 172A Great North Road, Wanganui, 4500, New ZealandTel +64 27 617 5433Email [email protected]: Continuing medical education (CME) is meant to not only improve clinicians’ knowledge and skills but also lead to better patient care processes and outcomes. The delivery of CME should be able to encourage the health providers to accept new evidence-based practices, and discard or discontinue less effective care. However, continuing use of expensive yet least effective and inappropriate tools and techniques predominates for CME delivery. Hence, the evidence shows a disconnect between evidence-based recommendations and real-world practice – borne out by less than optimal patient outcomes or treatment targets not being met especially in low- to middle-income countries. There is an ethical and professional obligation on CME-providers and decision-makers to safeguard that CME interventions are appraised not only for their quality and effectiveness but also for cost-effectiveness. The process of learning needs to be engaging, convenient, user-friendly and of minimal cost, especially where it is most needed. Today’s technology permits these characteristics to be integrated, along with further enhancement of the engagement process. We review the literature on the mechanics of CME learning that utilizes today’s technology tools and propose a framework for more engaging, efficient and cost-effective approach that implements massive open online courses for CME, adapted for the twenty-first century.Keywords: continuing medical education, health care, learning management system, massive open online courses, non-communicable diseases
