An hour-long webinar, “How to Write a Mission Statement and Stick to It,” held April 16 and sponsored by the Alliance for CME, focused on how to write a mission statement that meets the Accreditation Council for CME's updated accreditation criteria. “The new focus starts with your mission statement,” said speaker Ed Dellert, RN, MBA, vice president, educational resources, American College of Chest Physicians, Northbrook, Ill.

“Consider (the mission statement) the blueprint or the road map for how you will operate your CME program,” added co-presenter Billie Dalrymple, director, continuing medical education, Texas Medical Association, Austin.

What’s new, speakers explained, is that your mission statement needs to include the program’s expected results in terms of competence, performance, or patient outcomes. It doesn’t have to encompass all three areas, but it should incorporate one or more of them. If your goal is physician competence, for example, the mission statement should say that physicians will know how to apply what was learned and it should include a method of measurement.

The mission statement should also include four other elements: a succinct statement about why the organization is supporting an accredited CME program (the purpose of the activity); an outline of the general subject or content areas of activities; a description of the target audience; and the activity types, including the formats you will use.

“Every time you do an activity, you have to look at how it fits into the different aspects of your mission statement,” said Dellert. And, he concluded, it’s critically important to communicate your mission to faculty.

The third in the series of webinars, “How to Use Data to Determine CME Program Success” was held
June 18. All three webinars, which focus on meeting the ACCME's updated accreditation criteria, are available in an archived version. For more information, go to the Alliance Web site.