Italian continuing medical education program: an evidence-based course for surgeons and health personnel of a regional transplantation center

In the organ transplantation area the application of the evidence-based medicine (EBM) methods may be limited by several, heterogeneous conditions, eg, mandatory laws and protocols, logistic concerns, as well as donor/recipient matching. In this report we have described the results of a first EBM-oriented course for surgeons and health personnel in a regional transplantation center under the Italian Continuing Medical Education (CME) program. The course was formally approved for 25 credits. It included a maximum of 70 medical and nursing staff registrants; 50 of the spots were reserved for our transplantation center. The course was scheduled in 10 sessions from June to November 2010. Each session was composed of 2 phases: (1) first, computer-assisted education including slide presentations (2 hours); and (2) subsequent discussion led by experts (1.5 hours). The registered participants were expected to be able to correctly answer a multiple-choice, 10-question questionnaire at the end of each session. The majority of the participants considered the course relevant to their need to be updated and effective to improve their clinical skills. The requirements to obtain credits by the Italian CME program for live events were overall presence ≥80% and correct responses in the postsession questionnaires ≥70%. However, among the initially registered participants 31.5% failed at least one of these requirements. The main reason for failure was exceeding the maximum number of absences. Paradoxically, the absences were largely caused by the simultaneous execution of surgical/medical transplantation procedures. For professional figures engaged in complex medical activities, the Italian CME program should consider different threshold limits for the maximum number of absences allowed at live events.