Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has been involved in the continuing education of physicians from at least the 1920s. One of the first studies that attempted to determine the impact of continuing medical education (CME) on patient care was conducted from 1929 to 1934 by John B. Youmans, MD, Director of Postgraduate Instruction at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine at that time. Since those early efforts, Vanderbilt CME has evolved through a combined GME-CME model that was prevalent during the 1930s and 1940s; the transition to "update CME" as the result of the rapid expansion of biomedical knowledge during and after World War II through the 1950s, and the individual faculty-generated approach to CME which continued into the late 1960s.
After 1968, along with other medical schools, Vanderbilt established a centralized office to manage the accreditation process introduced by the American Medical Association. The division on CME within the Office for Continuous Professional Development has been actively engaged in the certification of internal and external activities to promote provider education. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is Accredited with Commendation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Education (ACCME) for recognition of excellence as a CME Provider.
Mission Statement
The mission of the CME program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is to offer learning opportunities to physicians and other members of the health care team that will enable them to provide the very best possible care to their patients and perform optimally in their other professional responsibilities as measured by improvements in competence, performance, and patient health status.
Staff:
Monique Drago, MA, EdD -- CME Director
Heidi Watts -- CME Program Manager
Contact Us:
Office for Continuous Professional Development
2215 Garland Avenue | Suite 312 Light Hall
Nashville, TN 37232-0495
cme@vumc.org
615-332-4060