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).
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 comes in.
Two-thirds of physicians own a tablet or smartphone, and as many as 74 percent use smartphones for professional purposes, according to MobiHealthNews. It makes sense, then, that mobile apps for CME are growing among consumers and clinicians, as Modern Healthcare reports.
As practitioners have less and less time to spend at conferences or in-person training events, CME resources have realized the need to migrate to a format that makes on-the-go education attainable, easy, and reliable.
So, what are a few ways you can earn CME on your mobile phone? Here are six tools to get you started:
1. Medscape
This resource from WebMD is an extremely high-rated app that has multiple functionalities even beyond providing accredited CME courses. 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.
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. MedPage Today
With development from MedPage Today and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, this app includes free training for CME credits, updates on breaking medical news, actionable tips, and clinical perspectives that accompany news articles. More than 700,000 medical professionals already use this app for CME and to stay current on news and conferences.
Cost: Free
6. 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 CME 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
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.
