FM CME Assessors Board (2008-2010)

Chairperson
Dr Tay Ee Guan

Members
Dr Matthew Ng
Dr Loke Kam Weng
Dr Tan Ngiap Chuan
Dr Jonathan Pang
Dr Low Mun Heng Gerard

Advisor
A/Prof Cheong Pak Yean

CORE FM CME Defined

Under the new CME system, the Singapore Medical Council has come up with the concept of core CME for Family Physicians. Initially, the College has come up with a 5 operational criteria definition. These have been published in the Jan-Mar 2002 issue of the Singapore Family Physician and are reproduced below:

Core CME may be defined operationally as CME that fulfils all the following 5 requirements:

1. Have scientific and clinical content with a direct bearing on patient care.
2. Have a direct bearing on family physicians' ability to deliver patient care including, but not limited to, laboratory investigations, practice management, and quality assurance
3. Demonstrate high educational, ethical and medical standards, with proven theory and techniques, and generally accepted by the medical community.
4. Have active input and/or participation by family physicians designated by the CFPS in the planning, organization and/or delivery of the programme.
5. Be organized, co-organised or endorsed by the CFPS to be core CME programmes.

For the purpose of the FM CME Advisor work, it was felt necessary to simplify things. Hence, a 3 operational criteria has been created. Core CME is defined here as a CME activity that fulfils the following criteria:

• Is relevant to the work of the family physician in the context of primary, personal, comprehensive and continuing care
• Is relevant to the knowledge and skills development of the family physician
• Is endorsed or co-organised with the College.

Essentially, the first of the three criteria set is the first criteria of the full set, the second of the three criteria is the second and third criteria of the full set and the last of the three criteria set is the fourth and fifth criteria set. For details we will go back to the full 5 criteria set.

The following notes may help to clarify what is not Core CME for the Family Physician.

CME on new modes of treatment e.g. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) - this is regarded as good to know or nice to know but certainly not must know;
CME on specialized techniques not used in the family physican's practice e.g. MRI techniques for imaging the cranial fossa or the spine - again this is good to know or nice to know but not must know.
CME that is set up by a commercial or entity with vested interest using the College's endorsement or co-organisation for respectability. The speaker provided is biased, or the content is unduly tilted towards the organization with vested interest. The pharmaceutical firm's offers are potentially such CME. They require therefore closer scrutiny as well as written assurances and mutual agreement to downplay any vested interest.

THE FM MATRIX

The FM Matrix has been drawn up by the College to guide its vocational training programme. This matrix may therefore be of help for CME providers in ensuring a broad spread of topics that covers the syllabus over a cycle of CME of two or three years.

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SMC CME System

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List of Approved Journals form Core CME Accreditation (Self-study)

LOCAL JOURNALS
1. Singapore Family Physician [online version]
2. Singapore Medical Journal    [online version]

OVERSEAS JOURNAL (NON-FM)
1. British Medical Journal [online version]
2. Annals of Internal Medicine
3. Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) [online version]

OVERSEAS JOURNAL (FAMILY MEDICINE)
1. American Family Physician
2. Australian Family Physician
3. British Journal of General Practice
4. Canadian Family Physician

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FM Matrix

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