Newsletter
#18
MedBiquitous Consortium
Newsletter #18
16 June 2004
Published by the MedBiquitous Consortium
Contents:
- Annual Conference Presentations Available
- Moving Towards a National Health Information Infrastructure
- Communicating Medical Education Metrics
- Harden and Detmer Named to Board of Directors
- Darin McBeath to Serve as XML Architect
- Membership Update
1.
Annual Conference Presentations Available
Presentations from the meeting are now available online at: http://www.medbiq.org/events/conferences/annual_conference/agenda2004.html
Approximately 90 people attended the two-day conference focusing on standards-based technologies for healthcare education and competence assessment. Dr. Peter Greene, Executive Director of MedBiquitous, began the conference with an overview of the need for technology standards that support CME and maintenance of certification reforms. Keynote speaker Dr. Ronald Harden provided a fabulous explanation of the practical benefits of a learning objects approach to healthcare online learning. Dr. Scott Young from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Dr. Paul Miles of the American Board of Pediatrics followed with presentations focusing on the role of education in supporting quality improvement and competence assessment.
The afternoon followed with a showcase of SCORM-conformant e-learning content, a panel on medical education reform, and several outstanding presentations on innovative e-learning, including a map for CME reform from Dr. Murray Kopelow, Chief Executive of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.
The second day of the conference included updates from the MedBiquitous Technical Steering Committee and MedBiquitous Working Groups and a description and demonstration of learning content management systems and reusable learning content from Johns Alonso of Outstart. This was followed by several case studies of MedBiquitous standards implementations and pilot projects. Dr. Sebastian Uijdehaage introduced the group to HEAL, the Health Education Assets Library, and Nina Pasini and Dr. Dan Rehak of Carnegie Mellon finished the day with a great tutorial on creating SCORM for Healthcare content. Many thanks to conference sponsor Aventis and to all who participated and made it an engaging and thought-provoking meeting!
2.
Moving Towards a National Health Information Infrastructure
MedBiquitous is proud to endorse the National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) upcoming conference, Cornerstones for Electronic Healthcare, to be held July 20 to 23 in Washington DC (see http://www.medbiq.org/events/other/nhii04_announcement.html). This second annual conference will gather essential healthcare stakeholders to review, extend and amplify last year’s action agenda. The result will be a consensus national action plan coming directly from the stakeholders for moving NHII forward.
The standards that MedBiquitous is developing working in combination with clinical messaging standards provide an opportunity to integrate healthcare education with point of care systems. MedBiquitous encourages its members to participate in NHII processes and work to include education in the emerging national health information infrastructure. To register for the meeting, see: http://www.hsrnet.net/nhii/.
3. Communicating Medical Education Metrics
Are your educational programs effective? How do you measure their effectiveness and communicate it to others? The MedBiquitous Education Working Group has launched a subcommittee to focus creating standards for the reporting of medical education metrics called MEMS. Many content providers and supporters have developed formats for cataloguing and communicating educational metrics, but there is great variation in the types of metrics provided, making it hard to exchange, process, and evaluate these types of data. The MEMS standard would provide a common language for exchanging metrics information, enabling education providers and supporters to better measure the reach and effectiveness of their programs. MedBiquitous members are welcome to participate in MEMS. For more information, contact info@medbiq.org.
4.
Harden and Detmer Named to Board of Directors
The MedBiquitous Board of Directors is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Ronald Harden and Dr. Don Detmer to the board. Dr. Harden is currently General Secretary and Treasurer of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) and Director of Education with the International Virtual Medical School (IVIMEDS), a unique collaboration committed to providing a blend of high quality student-centered e-learning and face-to-face learning for medical students, trainees and practicing doctors. Dr. Detmer is Professor Emeritus and Professor of Medical Education in the Department of Health Evaluation Sciences at the University of Virginia and Senior Associate of the Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge. His research includes contributions to national health information policy, quality improvement, administrative medicine, vascular surgery, sports medicine, and master's level educational programs for clinician-executives.
5.
Darin McBeath to Serve as XML Architect
The MedBiquitous Technical Steering Committee recently announced that Darin McBeath of Elsevier Science will be serving as its XML Applications Architect. Darin is the Chief Architect at Elsevier, where his responsibilities include researching new technology, authoring white papers, establishing corporate technology standards, and defining technical strategy. Darin has made significant contributions to the committee’s XML and Web services development guidelines (see http://www.medbiq.org/technology/tech_architecture/index.html).
6. Membership Update
MedBiquitous is delighted to welcome the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), and the careLearning Co-development Consortium (careLearning CC) as its most recent members.
The AAMC has as its purpose the improvement of the nation's health through the advancement of medical schools and teaching hospitals, and it works with its members to set a national agenda for medical education, biomedical research, and health care. FSMB membership comprises the medical boards of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and 13 state boards of osteopathic medicine. FSMB continues to make significant contributions to the effectiveness and integrity of medical licensing and discipline systems. CareLearningCC is a nationwide consortium of hospitals and health systems that allows its members to reduce eLearning development costs by as much as 95% through joint development and other cost sharing strategies. These groups are leaders and innovators in healthcare, and we are delighted to have their participation.
