New member benefit coming: Education Section on the CCAS website
By Mark Twite, MD, BCh
A new addition is being developed for the members only section of the CCAS website. This new ‘Education Section’ will initially be composed of two parts; ‘previous meetings’ and ‘CME’ material.
The previous meeting section will be an archive of the material presented at past CCAS meetings. The material will be presented as a speaker’s slides with accompanying explanatory notes. This archive will serve two main purposes: first, it allows members who are unable to attend a meeting to see what was presented and second, it allows those who attended the meeting to look back and refresh their memory! Potential future avenues that are being considered are to include audio (and maybe video!) of the speaker’s actual presentation and the discussion that follows. As attendees receive CME credit for the conference, there will be no CME credit offered with the online meeting archive.
The CME section will offer a regular CME activity. These activities will be in the form of peer-reviewed slide presentations or written narratives. A small committee will review the material and write questions for the CME credit. The format will be very similar to what already exists on the SPA website. So if you have a great presentation please submit it! There are lots of great talks out there – let’s utilize this untapped resource. The aim will be to have a regular monthly CME activity for every member’s benefit.
Once these two sections are established, other ideas include a ‘reference’ section where members can share material such as Dr. Duncan de Souza’s excellent ‘Introduction to Congenital Heart Disease’ which is already posted on the CCAS website. It may also be possible to get a member discount on textbooks relevant to our practice.
Hopefully this new Education Section will foster closer relationships with our pediatric anesthesia colleagues on a national and international level. The practice of pediatric cardiac anesthesia is growing and involves new challenges such as adult congenital heart disease and new interventions for complex congenital heart disease in the neonate. Collectively we can meet these challenges, help contribute to our own education, and therefore provide the best possible care for our patients.
Want more information? Want to be involved? Have something great that you want to share as a CME activity? Please contact the Education Section Editor Mark.Twite@UCDenver.edu.
