Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Master Class CME Delivers Best Practices from Internationally Renowned Medical Leaders

BOSTON-(Business Wire)-February 10, 2009 - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, announces today its Master Class for Oncologist to meet the educational needs of the community oncologist. Sharing of knowledge and best practices equates to improved efficiencies and patient care. Thereby, collaborating with a variety of academic hospitals and research institutions, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Master Class for Oncologists fills a continuing medical education (CME) need for the community oncologist, who represents two-thirds of all practicing oncologists today. The successful 2008 program and confirmed market need leads to a continued commitment for 2009.

Today, an increasing amount of cancer care is provided in the outpatient setting by community-based oncologists. This is happening at a time in which rapid innovations of new treatments, diagnostics, imaging, genetic testing and new cancer care protocols makes the job of staying current and confident in delivering state-of-the-art cancer care is quite a dilemma. These changes on how and where cancer care is being provided, plus the attendee feedback from 2008 CME participants – more than half of the attendees reported seeing more than 100 patients a week confirm the need for CME customized to the community oncologist has never been greater.

“We found that the current CME course options, although vast, miss the perspective of the community oncologist,” says Robert J. Mayer, MD, faculty vice president for Academic Affairs in the Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber. “The core basis for the Master Class for Oncologists is to make the greatest impact on patient care. It is critical that oncologists be engaged in education that fosters their competence, performance, and ability to improve patient care. We are thrilled with the success of the program thus far and look forward to continuing to deliver on that need in 2009.”

In the summer of 2008, Dana-Farber launched a national CME course to bring the latest science and guidelines to community oncologists. The course is composed of four sequential tracks—breast cancer, hematologic malignancies; head/neck and lung cancers, and gastrointestinal cancers— and is taught by 21 leading subspecialists.

Dana-Farber designed the two-day course to help the community oncologist stay current with confidence and competency. Using a team-based teaching approach, track directors moderate each track, poll the room for current clinical challenges, present the interactive session, and moderate a question and answer panel with presenting faculty. Highlights from the two events in 2008 include:

212 clinicians in attendance;
89 percent practicing oncologists; and
52 percent of attendees see more than 100 patients per week, some see 200 a week.

According to one doctor focusing on general oncology and hematologic malignancies, the course was “Extremely useful. The topics covered are the scope of the patients we most commonly see. Little time is spent on rare conditions. Dana-Farber Master Class is superior in relevance to daily clinical decision making.” Several other attendees commented describing the program as “intense,” “time efficient,” “innovative,” “engrossing,” and “practice changing.”

Research has shown that physician learning outcomes are higher when education is delivered by a multi-channel curriculum. The Masters Class combines on-line CME, convenient and accessible at point of care, and engaging live meetings to provide real-time interaction. The on-line activities are linked to live session content, designed for pre-meeting thought, post-meeting reinforcement, and reach to secondary audiences. Delivery formats include Expert Perspectives, Patient Case Studies, Faculty-led Teleconferences, Webcast, and Clinical Reviews. In the first few weeks of the on-line CME, 1,053 clinicians completed one out of six online activities; 1,809 credits were awarded; and 77 percent of clinicians who completed one of the on-line courses said the material presented will help them improve the quality of their patient care.

“It is an honor to be a part of such a successful program, thanks to the involvement of an internationally respected faculty and the quality of the clinicians attending the courses,” says Bruce E. Johnson, MD, program director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber. “The high level of engagement of the faculty and attendees builds an informal community which will translate to improved cancer patient care. Expanding upon these is a welcome opportunity for 2009.”

The first program of 2009 is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC on March 27 and 28. It will be followed by Chicago on May 1 and 2, San Francisco on October 23 and 24, and Miami on December 18 and 19.

Dana-Farber Master Class for Oncologists’ logistics partner is Pri-Med. The Pri-Med brand is owned and operated by M|C Communications LLC in Boston, MA, a global provider of educational solutions. The ACCME-accredited provider for the program is Pri-Med Institute (PMI). PMI delivers certified educational activities that are fair-balanced, objective, evidence-based, scientifically and clinically rigorous, and present content or format that advances improvements or quality in health care for the benefit of overall patient care. PMI is responsible for ensuring that each activity that it certifies for credit is planned and conducted in accordance with accreditation requirements set forth by the accrediting bodies including: identification of educational needs, curriculum design, content development, faculty outreach, outcomes measurement, and each of the other requirements set forth by the respective accrediting organization.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.

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