Online CME: Pulmonary/Critical Care
Last Updated November 11, 2007.

Special Notice!! Looking for reviewers to help keep the List up-to-date.

The sites described on this page are primarily concerned with chest medicine and critical care. You will find additional online CME sites and courses partially concerning chest medicine and critical care at the main online CME site.

American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Online CME
Last visited...11/2006.
Credit hours....About 30 total.
Awarded by....AAAAI.
Cost for Credit....See ===>
Instruction Type...Slide-Audio Lectures.
Target Audiences...ALLG, PULM, DERM.
Educational material last updated....2006.
Financial Support...Various pharmaceutical companies.

At this time you will find free webcasts from the 2006 and 2005 annual meetings, a few free webcasts from 2004 and the full set of 12 webcasts from all 3 years (for $500). There is a single 2004 webcast, Developing Clinical Skills to Promote Adherence and Maximize Asthma Outcomes. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) offers 1 hour of CME per monthly issue, currently free to subscribers (12 hours available). last, Respiratory Digest offers a single article, Monitoring progress in Patients with Asthma, offering 1 credit.

American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP)

  • Pulmonary and Critical Care Update (PCCU)
    Last visited...6/2006.
    Credit hours...1.0 per lesson (24 hours per year; possible maximum of 72 hours)
    Awarded by....American College of Chest Physicians.
    Cost for Credit....Free for members of the ACCP; $192 for 24 hours for non-members (payable in advance).
    Instruction Type....Text-Only.
    Target Audiences...PULM, CRIT CARE.
    Educational material last updated.....Monthly.
    CME Credit Expires...3 years after posting.
    Financial Support...None Stated.

This online journal is intended for the pulmonary and critical care specialist. Each month provides two lessons on pulmonary and critical care topics. Some recent topics are: Measuring Quality of Life in Lung Disease; Asbestos-Related Lung Disease; Phosphodiesterase-4 Inhibitors for Asthma and COPD; and Management of Acute Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

Anesoft Medical Simulation Software
Last visited....6/2006.
Credit hours....6 courses offering total of 106 credit hours.
Awarded by....Anesoft Corporation.
Cost...........Typically about $10 per hour (see site for cost details).
Instruction Type....Case-Based Interactive.
Target Audience....ANES, ER, CARD, CRIT CARE.
Educational material last updated...2002.
Financial support...None Stated.

You will find these simulator courses: course (credit hours): ACLS (10); Anesthesia (36); Bioterrorism (12); Critical Care (20); Hemodynamics (10); and Sedation (18). You can see a demo of each course before ordering.

ATMOSPHERE 2007 CME Webinars (Asthma)
Last visited....11/2007.
Credit hours...1 hour per course (total of 3 courses offering 3 hours).
Awarded by....France Association.
Cost for Credit.....Free.
Instruction Type....Slide-Audio.
Target Audiences....ALLG, PULM.
Educational material last updated...2006
Financial Support...AstraZeneca.
CME Credit Expires...One year after posting.

Three courses on the management of asthma: New Strategies in Asthma Control: Assessment of Impairment and Risk; New Strategies in Asthma Control: Issues in Management of Special Risk Populations; and The 30-Minute Office Visit: Strategies and Tools for Asthma Management in Your Practice.

Cerebrio
Last visited...9/2006.
Credit hours...5.5.
Awarded by...University of Michigan, University of Rochester.
Cost for Credit...Free.
Instruction Type....Slide-Video.
Target Audiences....CRIT CARE, FP, CARD.
Educational material last updated...2006.
Financial Support...Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Three activities: ASPIRE (Acid Suppression Pharmacotherapy in the ICU: Re-evaluating the Evidence) (2.5 hours); The High-Risk Cardiovascular Disease Website uses a multifaceted approach to equip physicians with tools to better manage their high-risk and special-population patients, ensuring optimal clinical outcomes and improving the process of cardiovascular patient care (2.0 hours); and Bridging High-Risk Intersects: An Evidence-Based Approach to Managing Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients With Left Ventricular Dysfunction or Heart Failure (1 hour)

CMELogix (National Jewish Medical and Research Center)
Last visited...8/2007. 
Credit hours...17 courses offering 0.5 to 6.0 hours (total of 27 hours).
Awarded by....National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics (pdf).
Target Audiences....PULM, ALLG.
Educational material last updated....2007.
Financial Support...None Stated.

These courses are concerned with asthma, COPD, atopic dermatitis, childhood allergy and sarcoidosis. After reading the articles, you must print, complete and mail or fax the quiz and evaluation.

Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism
Last visited...7/2006.
Credit hours...1.5 hours per course; total of 6 hours.
Awarded by....University of Nebraska.
Cost for Credit.....Free. 
Instruction Type....Case-Based Interactive.
Target Audiences....ER, CARD, PULM.
Educational material last updated...2005.
Financial Support...Aventis.

Four cases: A 73 year old woman with postoperative chest pain; A 51 year old man with worsening chest pain; A 65 year old woman with postoperative pleurisy and dyspnea; and A 63 year old woman with lower limb swelling and pain.

DocPod
Last visited...6/2006.
Credit hours...2 hours per issue;12 issues per year in each specialty.
Awarded by....Oakstone Publishing.
Cost...........$249 per year.
Instruction Type...Audio and text.
Target Audiences....ER, CRIT CARE.
Educational material last updated....Monthly.
Financial Support...None stated. 

This site offers monthly audio programs, about 60 minutes long, which you can download to your MP3 player for listening anytime. Each program also has a pdf text summary of the various segments. At this time (November 2005), you can download a free sample for each specialty (emergency, hospital care).

DVT/PE Open (Deep Vein Thrombosis Pulmonary Embolus Cyberounds)
Last visited...7/2007.
Credit hours...9.0.
Awarded by....Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Cost for Credit....Free.
Instruction Type...Interactive Game.
Target Audiences...Not Stated, probably best suited to ER, CRITICAL CARE and PULM.
Educational material last updated....2007
Financial Support...Sanofi Aventis.
CME Credit Expires...Sept 29, 2009.

The Cyberounds® DVT/PE Open is an interactive CME golf program on the treatment and management of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

Journalbytes Chest Medicine
Last visited...6/2006. 
Credit hours...36 per year (3.0 per month).
Awarded by.... Johns Hopkins. 
Cost...............$240 per year 
Instruction Type...Most is Text-Only; some Audio. 
Target Audience... PULM. 
Educational material updated monthly.
Financial Support...None Stated.
Expiration of CME credit...Two years after date of publication.

Each issue contains a variety of types of presentations: Literature Reviews; Critical Discussion and Commentary; Vital Topic; Audio Reviews; Tables of Contents from Key Journals; and an E-quiz offering 3.0 CME credit-hours.

Medscape Critical Care
Last visited...11/2006.
Credit hours...Varies from time to time.
Awarded by....Medscape and many other sponsoring organizations.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics, Text-Only, Slide-Audio Lecture, Slide-Video Lecture and Case-Based-Interactive.
Target Audiences....CRIT CARE.
Educational material last updated...New activities posted frequently.
Financial Support...Many academic, specialty, and commercial sources as well as WebMD.
Expiration of CME Credit...Credit for most activities expires one year after posting.

CME activities of special interest to critical care specialists. Medscape contains a variety of educational formats:
CONFERENCE COVERAGE - Reports of  advances presented at major medical conferences; typically includes several tracks with news stories, expert interviews, and in-depth topic overviews.
CLINICAL UPDATE - Comprehensive original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
FAST TRACK CLINICAL UPDATE – Narrowly focused original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
CME-LIVE - Real-time online events with streaming video, synchronized visuals, and interactive questions and answers; archived for 1 year.
NEWS-CME - Daily reports of major current medical research articles; 0.25 credits each
JOURNAL CME - Articles selected from a wide selection of conference reports and peer-reviewed journals, including MedscapeGeneralMedicine (MedGenMed).
SPECIAL REPORT CME – Topic-based monthly email newsletter distributed to Medscape’s professional member database by specialty.
INTERACTIVE PATIENT CASES – Original CME activity presented to the physician in an interactive, clinical case-based format. 
CME CIRCLE – Multimedia content certified by other accredited professional education providers, typically from live symposia or monographs, and then posted on Medscape and archived for one year.

Medscape Pulmonary Medicine
Last visited...11/2006.
Credit hours...Varies from time to time.
Awarded by....Medscape and many other sponsoring organizations.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics, Text-Only, Slide-Audio Lecture, Slide-Video Lecture and Case-Based-Interactive.
Target Audiences....PULMO.
Educational material last updated...New activities posted frequently.
Financial Support...Many academic, specialty, and commercial sources as well as WebMD.
Expiration of CME Credit...Credit for most activities expires one year after posting.

CME activities of special interest to pulmonary medicine specialists. Medscape contains a variety of educational formats:
CONFERENCE COVERAGE - Reports of  advances presented at major medical conferences; typically includes several tracks with news stories, expert interviews, and in-depth topic overviews.
CLINICAL UPDATE - Comprehensive original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
FAST TRACK CLINICAL UPDATE – Narrowly focused original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
CME-LIVE - Real-time online events with streaming video, synchronized visuals, and interactive questions and answers; archived for 1 year.
NEWS-CME - Daily reports of major current medical research articles; 0.25 credits each
JOURNAL CME - Articles selected from a wide selection of conference reports and peer-reviewed journals, including MedscapeGeneralMedicine (MedGenMed).
SPECIAL REPORT CME – Topic-based monthly email newsletter distributed to Medscape’s professional member database by specialty.
INTERACTIVE PATIENT CASES – Original CME activity presented to the physician in an interactive, clinical case-based format. 
CME CIRCLE – Multimedia content certified by other accredited professional education providers, typically from live symposia or monographs, and then posted on Medscape and archived for one year.

PILOT (Pulmonary fibrosis Identification: Lessons for Optimizing Treatment)
Last Visited...3/2007.
Credit Hours: 30.
Awarded by...The France Foundation.
Cost….Free.
Instruction Type…Slide-Only, Case-Based-Interactive, Point of Care
Target Audiences…PULM, RAD, PATH.
Educational material last updated….Monthly.
Financial Support…InterMune.
CME Credit Expires...December 2007.

PILOT focuses on the early diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and disease intervention and management. There are three sections:
PILOT Interactive Cases (6 credits);
PILOT Compendium (4 credits); and
CO-PILOT Point of Care CME (up to 20 credits).
To receive CME credit, print the CME application and evaluation form, and fax or mail it to The France Foundation.

TheAnswerPage
Last visited...1/2008.
Credit hours ...Up to 60 hours per year (240 questions) in each specialty; about 300 hours available.
Awarded by...TheAnswerPage.com and Thomas Beam, Jr. Memorial Institute for Continuing Medical Education.
Cost....$150 per year for unlimited credit.
Instruction Type...Question-and-Answer.
Target Audience ...ANES, PAIN MAN, OB-GYN, NEONATAL, CRIT CARE.
Educational material last updated...Daily Updates.
Financial Support...Various pharmaceutical companies.

TheAnswerPage.com offers 0.25 hours of CME credit for study of the Question of the Day. You may study that question "today," or view an archive of questions. There are no quizzes; credit is applied to your account automatically as you go through the questions and answers, which are authored by faculty from Harvard and other medical schools. There are separate sections for Anesthesiology, Pain Management, Hospital & Critical Care, Obstetrics & Gynecology And Newborn Medicine. TheAnswerPage has recently added a handheld-based CME program, included in the same annual fee, which allows you to receive CME credit for study directly on handheld machines.

Return to the Annotated List of Online CME (All Specialties)

This list was compiled by Bernard M. Sklar, MD, MS