Medical professionals spend most of their time interacting with patients and working to provide the best possible care. To stay up to date on the latest trends in the medical space, many professionals are required by their state to pursue continuing medical education (CME) and continuing education (CE).
CME is a requirement for good reason — it’s essential in an environment where change is constant. But medical professionals are already taking on higher caseloads than ever because of increased demand, which means CME has to fit into a busy lifestyle. That’s where mobile CME comes in!
As practitioners have less and less time to spend at conferences or in-person training events, CME resources have migrated to a format that makes on-the-go education attainable, easy, and reliable. The apps and websites listed below provide free CME credits for for a range of provider types.
The 6 Best Apps for Earning Your CME
So, what are a few ways you can earn continuing education on your mobile phone? Here are six tools to get you started:
1. Medscape
WebMD’s CME app is an extremely high-rated and has multiple functionalities even beyond providing accredited CE & CME courses. Medscape offers free CE for nurse practitioners and PAs, along with physicians. Along with breaking medical news and disease information, it offers its more than one million users helpful features, such as:
- Information on drug interactions, medical calculators, and real-time drug data.
- Accredited CME courses that meet licensing requirements.
- Offline access (no Internet connection required) to reference procedures, conditions, drugs, and more.
- Medscape offers a free CME tracker, but unfortunately it cannot be accessed in the app or on a mobile browser- it must be accessed via your computer.
Cost: Free
2. RealCME
With more than one million active members, this app lets medical professionals attain their required CME right from a mobile device. RealCME offers interactive educational activities in various specialty topics, and they are frequently updated. Completed credits are tracked automatically and certificates are mailed directly to the recipient.
Using this app, you can also:
- Choose from various CME activity formats with real-world experiences.
- Benefit from peer-to-peer interactions.
- Track performance goals.
- Get a personal performance report every three months with completed CME credits.
Cost: Free
3. Mayo Clinic CME
This app allows attendees of select Mayo Clinic meetings to browse speaker information and presentations, as well as slides from various sessions. Thanks to in-app features, you can even make notes on the slides right from your mobile device, which you can then access later for reference.
Other features include:
- Design that accommodates both iPad and iPhone.
- Cloud-based access to CME resources.
Cost: Free
4. MyCME
The MyCME app provides a tailored experience for a variety of medical professionals pursuing CME. The accredited courses accommodate physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, and other medical professionals. You can use your smartphone to easily navigate through CME activities, set up personalized goals, store your certificates, and stop/start activities without losing your place.
Cost: While the app itself is free, a subscription to the content is $94.99/year with auto-renewal.
5. ReachMD CME
On this exclusive XM satellite radio channel, you can use your mobile phone to access audio CME content on the go. This resource lets you listen to and take continuing medical education exams right on your phone, and it automatically updates with new CME programs that you can browse by keyword.
Other features include:
- Alerts for new programs and info.
- History tracking so you can easily revisit past exams.
- Audio format for learning during your commute, workouts, and any other time you’re on the go.
Cost: Free
6. Pri-Med Events
Pri-Med offers free online CME, and helps you plan for conferences if you choose to complete continuing education in person. It offers audio continuing education in the form of podcasts for you to listen to on the go. It also offers virtual conferences that can be attended for CME.
Cost: Free
Mobile CME access represents an educational shift toward accommodation, simple collaboration, and mobile-friendly resources. And that’s a good thing: Now, more than ever, the demand placed on time is high within the medical industry. We can expect to see more tools like these in the future as technology integrates more seamlessly with ongoing educational requirements.
4 Free Sites for Earning Your Continuing Education Credits
Looking to earn your CE without spending in the process? These 4 resources are completely free.
1. FreeCME.com
freeCME.com has one of the broadest range of continuing education available for healthcare providers. Their easy-to-use web portal makes finding courses and tracking required credits fast and simple.
2. CME List
CME List holds access to a number of online free CME for physicians. From pain management to a course on the public health crisis of Ebola, you will find something to pique your interest while obtaining those CMEs!
3. MyCME.com
My CME is an online course compilation covering a broad range of specialties, including allergy, cardiology, emergency, and dermatology. Check out the site, and you will also enjoy access to a number of great resources, such as clinical charts, daily medical news, patient fact sheets, and more!
4. Physicians Practice
Physicians Practice is an online journal that offers subscribers the opportunity to earn CME credits for free. Simply read their articles and answer quiz questions located at The HMP Global Learning Network and you can earn as many as 12 credits annually.
Editor’s Note: This blog was originally written by the Barton Team, and was updated by Liliana French to include additional information.
