Online CME: Surgery
Last Updated June 8, 2008.

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

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

ACS Surgery Online Edition
Last visited...12/2007.
Credit hours....60 per year.
Awarded by....University of Alabama School of Medicine.
Cost...........$264 per year.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics.
Target Audiences...SURG.
Educational material last updated....Monthly.
Financial support...None Stated.

The Online Edition of ACS Surgery: Principles and Practice is the only American College of Surgeons-sponsored textbook on general surgery. ACS Surgery "gives you the information you need to help you perform core surgical procedures more efficiently and to provide current, cost-effective patient care." It covers resuscitation; common presenting problems; trauma and thermal injury; preoperative preparation; operative management; special perioperative problems; care in the ICU; and postoperative management.

Baylor Surgery
Last visited...3/2006.
Credit hours...3 courses offering a total of 6 hours.
Awarded by....Baylor.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type....Slide-Video Lecture.
Target Audiences....SURG.
Educ. material last updated....2005.

Three courses are: New Directions in the Treatment of Peripheral Artery Disease Prostate Cancer; and Stroke Management.

Colonial Classic (Colorectal Cancer)
Last visited...5/2007.
Credit hours...9.0.
Awarded by....Cyberounds.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Interactive Game.
Target Audiences....ONCO, SURG.
Educational material last updated....2007.
Financial Support...Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The Colonial is an interactive golf game from Cyberounds. It concerns the evaluation and management of colorectal cancer  with special emphasis on adjuvant chemotherapy. Upon completion of this activity you should be able to discuss the role of adjuvant chemotherapy for Stage IIB colorectal cancer; compare and contrast the types of chemotherapy for IIB; select chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment; describe the role of EGFR testing prior to use of EGFR blocking therapy; and describe the role of VEGF monoclonal antibodies in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Head and Neck Interventional (Cyberounds)
Last visited...7/2007.
Credit hours...9.
Awarded by....Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Cost..........Free.
Instruction Type...Interactive Game.
Target Audience....SURG, ONCO, ENT.
Educational material last updated...2007.
Financial Support...Bristol Meyers Squibb.
CME Credit Expires...August 31, 2009.

The Cyberounds® Head and Neck Interventional is an interactive program on the treatment and management of head and neck cancer. Go to the Cyberrounds main page and click on Free CME at our Head and Neck Interventional to enter the program. 

HemostasisCME.org
Last visited...6/2006.
Credit hours...5 short courses, each 0.75 hours; total of 3.75 hours.
Awarded by....FCG Institute for Continuing Education.
Cost for Credit......Free.
Instruction Type... Slide-Audio Lectures.
Target Audiences...ANES, HEMA, SURG.
Educational material last updated...2005.
Financial Support...Various pharmaceutical companies.

You will find 5 CME activities relating to hemostasis and coagulation issues: Use of Traditional Blood Products and Novel Hemostatic Agents for the Treatment of Traumatic Bleeding; Rational Use of Transfusion in Critically Ill Patients; Optimizing the Monitoring of Coagulation; Monitoring of Patients Receiving Multiple Anticoagulants; and Challenges in Hemostatic Management of Patients with Hemophilia.

Institute for Advanced Medical Education
Reviewed by Janice Flahiff, Medical Librarian.
Last visited...6/2008.
Credit hours...1.0 to 4.0 per course (36 courses offering 53 hours total). 
Awarded by....Institute for Advanced Medical Education.
Cost for Credit....$25 for one hour, but as low as $10 per hour in bulk.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics, Streaming Video, Slide Images.
Target Audiences...OB-GYN, RAD, SURG.
Educational material last updated....2008.
Financial Support...GE Ultrasound.

36 courses in medical imaging. The majority of offerings are in obstetrical ultrasound. Some nice pictures of black-and-white and color Doppler images.

Journalbytes General Surgery
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...SURG.
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 General Surgery
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....SURG.
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 general surgeons. 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.

OR-Live Surgical Video Archives
Last visited...6/2008.
Credit hours...58 activities; most offer 1.0 hour of credit (about 58 CME credits).
Awarded by....Various Medical Schools,
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type....Slide-Video with Streaming Video clips. Also available as video podcasts which can be saved to computer or iPod (requires additional software).
Target Audience....Multiple Surgical Specialties.
Educational material last updated....2008.
Financial Support...Various commercial supporters.

A set of very nice programs of surgical procedures. Each program combines a didactic slide-video lecture with extensive footage of the surgical procedure. Subject areas include: Cardiovascular or Cardiothoracic, Gastric Surgery, Neurosurgery, OB/GYN, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Orthopedic, Pediatrics, Pulmonology, Radiology, Urology and Vascular. It is now easier to find the presentations that offer CME credit: after registration and login, click on the "ORcme" graphic, right upper part of the home page.

PVICME (Pacific Vascular Institute for Continuing Medical Education)
Reviewed by Janice Flahiff, Medical Librarian.
Last visited...6/2008.
Credit hours...1.0 hour per course (19 hours).
Awarded by.....PVICME
Cost............$30. (one free trial course).
Instruction Type....Streaming Video.
Target Audience....RAD, SURG.
Educational material last updated....2007.
Financial Support...None Stated.
Expiration Date...Not Stated.

Cases include Follow-up of Internal Carotid Stenosis; Cervical Bruit; One Day History of Left Sided Paresis; Hepato-Portal Evaluation; Lower Extremity Arterial Evaluation; One Month History of Calf Pain on Walking; Ten Month History of Calf Pain on Walking; Lower Extremity Venous Evaluation; Two Week History of Left Leg Pain and Swelling; Sudden Onset of Left Calf Pain and Swelling; R/O Renal Artery Stenosis Secondary to HTN; and Left Upper Extremity Cold & Absent Radial Pulse.

WebSurg
Last visited...5/2007.
Credit hours...0.5 or 1.0 per course (presently 24 courses offering 23 hours).
Awarded by....WebSurg and McMaster University.
Cost for Credit.....Free.
Instruction Type....Streaming Video.
Target Audiences....SURG.
Educational material last updated...2006.
Financial Support...Storz, Olympus, Tyco.

This site focuses on the principles and practices of minimally invasive surgery. Courses feature didactic instruction and streaming video presentations of the surgical procedures. Some of the procedures shown are adrenalectomy, right colectomy, sigmoidectomy for diverticulitis, cholecystectomy, gastric bypass for obesity, hiatal hernia and perforated ulcer. In addition to the CME activities, there are some outstanding videos of surgical procedures not offering CME, but worth a look.

WoundClosures.com
Last visited...5/2007.
Credit hours...1.5 hours each (8 courses for a total of 12 hours).
Awarded by....Dannemiller Memorial Educational Foundation.
Cost..........Free
Instruction Type....Text-Only (pdf).
Target Audiences....SURG.
Educational material last updated...2006.
Financial Support...Various surgical equipment makers.

Eight articles, each followed by a 10-question post-test: Scientific Basis for the Selection of Surgical Needle and Sutures; Scientific Basis for the Selection of Sutural Skin Closure; Scientific Basis for the Selection of Abdominal Fascial Suture Closure; Scientific Basis for the Selection of Vascular Suture Closure; Reducing Accidental Injuries During Surgery; Post Exposure Prophylaxis for Deadly Bloodborne Viral Infections; Scientific Basis for Excisional Biopsy of Skin Tumors; and Revolutionary Advances in Skin Stapling and Tissue Adhesives.

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

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