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It has been evident in the past few years that the scientific and effective
performance and
skills of the physicians towards their patients are tightly linked to the
process of CME.
CME should involve all the
levels of medical, nursing and technical teams taking care of the patient.
The rapidly evolving medical and scientific progress in the basic and
clinical arenas cannot be contained and made beneficial for preventive,
diagnostic, and therapeutic tools that we can use as physicians, except
through ambitious but realistic programs which can be developed, monitored,
and improved aiming at keeping all health
related personnel at the cutting edge of the medical knowledge.
Lagging behind the CME will be very disadvantageous to any physician who is
reluctant to cope with the new developments in his/her field; thus,
adversary affecting the quality of care delivered to the patients.
CME does not involve acquiring new knowledge; it also involves acquiring new
technical skills of advanced medical diagnostic and therapeutic techniques
in all walks of medical sub-specialists.
CME involves regular reading of medical periodical journals, the internet,
attending work shops, lectures, symposia, medical conferences, and
inter-hospitals teleconferences. There’s an urgent need for basic and
clinical medical studies pertinent to the local health issues in the
developing countries including the Arab world, that aim at defining
region-specific disease, risk factors, and epidemiology. Such studies should
be made accessible to all physicians and others involved in the health
process.
One of the most important
targets for CME is the general practitioner who is the gate keeper in most
cases, and is the one most capable of interacting with the local community
and positively affecting the health standards. It is through disease and
therapy guidelines developed by experienced specialists that the
productivity of general practitioners can be improved to international
standards.
We, in the Pan Arab Medical Journal, call on all experts in CME, Arabs and
non-Arabs to give us their valued feedback in this field, how to plan for
it, and how to apply it.
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