09/01/2020    Alan Sherman, DPM

Timing of Webinars (Dock Dockery, DPM)

I’d like to clarify what podiatrists’ choices
are in this Intra-COVID world for earning CME
and how each one works. Online CME comes as (1)
live streamed scheduled programs and (2)
“enduring media” recorded on-demand programs.
The Council on Podiatric Medical Education
(CPME) regulates how podiatrists earn CME for
each of these formats. In the case of programs
that are run live, the CPME regulations are the
same whether in person at a live conference or
streamed online using Zoom or other streaming
services. For these formats, CPME requires
verification of attendance in some manner to
earn your CME.

Generally, it’s by the reporting done by the
platform as to how many minutes the DPM was
“connected” to the program or an attendance
verification, where the DPM responds to a poll
to confirm that they are watching the lectures,
once in the AM and PM for full day programs.

Examples of live streaming CME are the 1 hour
webinars that have become popular recently and
full day or multiple live streaming
conferences, which to various extents, simulate
online the experience of attending a live
conference. All of these are scheduled events
broadcast live to the audience. Recorded on-
demand programs have the advantage of
convenience in that they do not need to be
scheduled. They are viewed wherever the DPM has
time, on-demand and they are verified by the
passing of a minimum competency post-test…
generally 5 questions which are not challenging
but do serve to confirm that the DPM watched
the program.

For the next year, I believe nearly all CME
will be earned using one of these formats. The
majority of states, 27 at last count, allow
their DPMs to earn 100% of their CME online,
but 23 still limit it. During this next year,
until next summer when COVID-19 will likely
continue to cause cancellation of all live CME
conferences, the states will all need to issue
waivers for these limitations like NY, FL, PA
and AZ have done, so that all CME can be earned
online in all states by all podiatrists.

Alan Sherman, DPM, PRESENT e-Learning Systems

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