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STATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MISSION

(Last revision approved by the NYSSA House of Delegates - December 9, 2007)

Vision:
The New York State Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc. (NYSSA) through its Committee on Continuing Medical Education and Remediation (CME&R) is a learning organization that is dedicated to enhancing the standards and practice of the specialty by sponsoring quality, up-to-date and cutting-edge Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities designed at encouraging education, research and scientific investigations, and promoting quality and patient care by improving competence, performance, and patient outcomes, not only within the membership but also nationwide and extending to the international community. In addition, this organization is committed to the remediation of anesthesiologists identified and referred by the New York State Department of Health Office of Professional Medical Conduct.

Purpose:
The goals and objectives of NYSSA's CME&R program are to:

• Disseminate clinically useful, state-of-the-art, evidence-based, continuing medical education information, as well as basic and clinical scientific research data to clinical practitioners, students, and researchers in the field of anesthesiology, pain management, critical care, and anesthesia practice management.

• Encourage and stimulate ongoing and new anesthesia-related research projects that will enhance and advance the specialty.

• Remain current in our knowledge of the direction the field of anesthesiology, pain management, critical care, and practice management is following to be able to better develop programs to meet these newly identified needs.

• Continually investigate and develop alternative methods to determine the educational needs of the diverse health care professionals serviced by the CME&R NYSSA program.

• Comply with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) new Updated Accreditation Criteria adopted in September 2006.

• Be supportive and institute remediation programs for anesthesiologists in need of remediation by continuing to be the designated Clinical Remediation Organization in Anesthesiology for the New York State Department of Health Office of Professional Medical Conduct.

Content:
The scope of the NYSSA's CME&R program is to provide a comprehensive integrated program designed to address the full spectrum of perioperative medicine, anesthetic management, pain management, critical care, and anesthesia practice management both in hospital and non-hospital settings. Diverse educational aspects include, but are not limited to, perioperative evaluation, relief of pain and suffering, support of physiologic homeostasis, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Also included are activities designed to enhance knowledge of the changing healthcare marketplace and economic impact on the specialty of anesthesiology. Activities are also designed to fulfill Maintenance of Certification requirements of practicing anesthesiologists.

Target Audience:
The educational program is designed to address the continuing medical education needs of health care professionals worldwide who are dedicated to the practice of all aspects of the field of anesthesiology. These programs will specifically meet the needs of anesthesiologists and intensivists in clinical practice and academia, physicians and PhD's engaged in research, anesthesia residents and fellows, intensive care fellows, medical students, and individuals in the allied health care professions (certified nurse anesthetists, perioperative care nurses, anesthesia assistants, dentists, and respiratory therapists).

Types of Activities & Program Modalities:
The educational program is accomplished by conducting an annual session of the Post-Graduate Assembly in Anesthesiology (PGA) each year in New York. This meeting is the second largest annual anesthesia meeting in the country. The program utilizes a wide range of educational platforms to meet the needs of its participants and to fulfill the goals of the organization. Modalities include, but are not limited to, large plenary didactic sessions, interactive hands-on workshops, small group problem-based learning discussions, small interactive focused group discussions, simulation modalities as well as scientific free papers and exhibits. The Committee on CME&R of the NYSSA is committed to ensuring the effectiveness of its programs through evaluations, focus groups, feedback and follow-up analysis of impact on learning and professional performance of its attendees. Additional venues and modalities will continuously be explored for their beneficial contribution to the learning process.

Expected Program Outcomes:
The Committee on CME&R of the NYSSA expects that its participants will either:

improve their competence by increasing their fund of knowledge and/or skill sets

OR

improve their performance by applying their newly-acquired knowledge and/or skill sets in order to provide quality and safe patient care. It is the belief of the Committee on CME&R that by improving competence and performance, patient outcomes will be improved. As the ability to measure patient outcomes of our participants become available, the Committee on CME&R will endeavor to utilize them to determine the impact of our CME activities on patient outcomes.