CME Spotlight: Power to the people
pharmafile | June 8, 2010 | Feature | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | CME Spotlight, transparency
The UK general election is now over and as we stayed up to watch the count, or woke on the morning of the 7 May to the news, we experienced something extraordinary unfold.
I’m writing this well before the result will be announced, but it even from here it looks like we will be in for a surprise of some kind. However, something I can bank on not having happened is that the people (demos) will not have ended up with much more voice, or power (kratos).
Being election time I thought it opportune to take a quick look at ancient Greece and the origins of democracy, and an interesting but short-lived practice of what must be an excellent example of democracy in action.
Political life in ancient Athens did not start with someone being voted in, left to rule for a while before shuffling off to a House of Lords or embarking on incessant tours of overpaid speaking engagements; being a politician required a different level of commitment. It was not perfect, but serving as a politician to represent the views of their community was seen a duty of a citizen, along with jury service and a spell in the army.
Members of the council, the ‘MPs’, could also only serve two terms – it was already identified a couple of thousand years ago that that having career politicians was not a good idea.
The most striking aspect of Athenian democracy, however, was what happened at the end of the term of office for the leader.
Once a new leader was selected, the demos had the kratos to decide what precisely should be the fate of the outgoing incumbent. Did he do so well that the the citizens would set him up for life being showered in praise and rewards so as to live out his retirement in luxury and admiration? Or was he seen as a threat, or maybe was incompetent so that his reward was a period of ostracism, to be banished from the city-state for a decade? Maybe he was an appalling ruler and ostracism was still seen to be too good, then there was the ultimate option of execution!
Imagine the impact on the decision-making processes if we had a similar system and level of personal accountability in place in our own countries today, instead of relying on a succession of toothless inquiries and post-hoc analyses.
CME
But how, in our recently exhausted election elation, is Athenian democracy relevant to European CME?
It is this active process of ongoing evaluation and feedback where we can draw parallels. We see how pharma companies are now moving away from the traditional activity of pushing out messages that they unilaterally think are good for their target audience, and are now listening much more to the voices of their consumers, with whom fair balance and equal partnerships produce closer co-operation and better results.
This empowerment of the customer also means that the dictatorial or tyrannical control of the customer relationship is falling out of favour.
Additionally, potential delegates cannot be persuaded to attend a meeting by a smooth salesman, or slick electioneering; in today’s time-conscious constraints this needs an act of persuasion involving a demonstration that the education is of relevance to the audience.
Delegates are more demanding of their education, and as some medical societies are finding, often voting with their feet.
CME adds a dimension to the final evaluation of an educational activity, the regulations require that the learners are asked about the activity and submit feedback about the quality and appropriateness of the education.
Done properly this feedback can also help drive future activities. Currently, much like in an election, this is done mostly in the style of a post-purchase, satisfaction survey, that only skims the surface in an attempt to evaluate the outcomes of a single activity.
As longer term programmes are developed and more sophisticated evaluation methods employed, providers will be moving away from simple evaluation forms that only take a snapshot in time of what people think. CME bodies are now requiring that the learners are asked more in-depth questions, including what they would like to see in future, and encouraging longer term engagement with a programme rather than a one hit wonder.
An interesting move is one being adopted further by the European Accreditation Council for CME (EACCME) which is now asking about the track record of the education provider, and for direct results of previous activities. This can conceivably identify and forewarn of potential problems, as well as help to clarify patterns of positive or negative behaviour or feedback – thus smoothing development and implementation of the education programme.
Providers in this way will find themselves under more scrutiny, being examined for evidence of quality, relevance of their education, their approach, and issues around bias or past problems too. And of course closer examination of the outcomes of the education and closer examination of what the learners thought about the education itself.
This Athenian-style democracy may well help with the development of a more transparent and higher quality European CME environment with routes for the voice of the learner to be heard.
One can also see the potential actions for providers of ‘reward’, ‘ostracism’, and indeed, even ‘execution’.
It is a shame that our own political system is dependent on its one main evaluation tool, as we now wait for another four or five years for the next one-hit satisfaction survey.
Eugene Pozniak is Managing Director of Siyemi Learning and Programme Director of European CME Forum. Email: epozniak@siyemi.org Information about the Good CME Practice Group can be found at www.gCMEp.eu
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