Physician Education
Purpose and Goals
Torrance Memorial Medical Center is an Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association accredited provider of AMA PRA Category I credit™ continuing medical education activities. The CME Program strives to keep physicians abreast of new advances in the ever-changing field of Medicine and to enhance the quality of health care. High-quality CME activities are planned, scheduled and promoted in order to meet the educational demands and needs of physicians and to expand their professional knowledge and skills in order to improve patient care.
Content Areas
CME activities relate to patient care, community/public health, preventive medicine and new diagnostic and treatment modalities. Subject content includes, but is not limited to, pain management, oncology, cardiology, diabetes, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics/perinatology, geriatrics, chemical dependency and bioethics. Because culture and communication are important for providing appropriate and effective health care, cultural diversity and/or linguistic competency issues are addressed during educational activities when relevant. Activities specifically designed to focus on these issues are also held.
Target Audience
The focus of the CME Program is the education of Torrance Memorial Medical Center Medical Staff members. The majority of activities are designed for the primary care physician, including general practitioners, internists, general surgeons and physicians from a variety of subspecialties. However, multi-disciplinary attendance is encouraged.
Types of Activities Provided
Live educational activities are presented as lectures, case presentations, journal clubs, audience discussion/participation, open question/answer sessions and video/slide presentations. Activities are held at the medical center.
Expected Results
Educational objectives are clearly stated and each activity is evaluated according to whether or not the needs are fulfilled and the objectives accomplished. Speakers and teaching aides are also evaluated to ensure they are of high quality. Participants are expected to change their competence by learning or refining a skill and/or to change their performance by applying what was learned to their clinical practice. Activity evaluations and/or follow-up surveys are used to determine if expected change is accomplished. All programs are monitored to insure they are free of commercial bias.
Support
Torrance Memorial Medical Center provides financial assistance as well as human resources, meeting room facilities, audiovisual services and food services to support its continuing medical education activities.
CME Accreditation
Torrance Memorial Medical Center is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association to provide continuing medical education for physicians. CME activities are compliant with the Accreditation Criteria and Policies for Continuing Medical Education (CME) of the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association and with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's ACCME Standards for Commercial Support.
AMA PRA Category I credit™
CME activities sponsored by Torrance Memorial Medical Center are granted AMA PRA Category I credit™ on an hour for hour basis and may be applied to the CMA Certification in Continuing Medical Education. To receive credit physicians must attend the greater part of the program. They must also complete and sign an evaluation form.
Regularly Scheduled Series
Regularly scheduled series are regularly occurring programs held at Torrance Memorial Medical Center and are only available to physicians affiliated with the medical center. A calendar listing these programs is published monthly in Progress Notes, a newsletter for physicians affiliated with Torrance Memorial Medical Center. Following are regularly scheduled CME activities:
- Breast Tumor Board is held weekly every Thursday at 7:00am and provides a forum for discussion and prospective evaluation pertaining to breast cancer case presentations. This activity provides 1 AMA PRA Category I credit™.
- Cardiometabolic Journal Club is held monthly on Friday at 7:30am and provides a forum for discussion and evaluation of diagnostic and treatment advances in the field of cardiology. This activity provides 1 AMA PRA Category I credit™.
- Cardiovascular Review Conference is held weekly every Wednesday at 7:00am and provides a forum for discussion and evaluation pertaining to cardiac surgery and/or cardiac case presentations. This activity provides 1 AMA PRA Category I credit™.
- Frontiers in Addiction Treatment is held bimonthly on the third Tuesday at 9:00am and provides updates on the treatment of addiction disorders. This activity provides 2.5 AMA PRA Category I credits™.
- General/Thoracic Tumor Board is held weekly every Thursday at 8:00am and provides a forum for discussion and evaluation pertaining to oncology case presentations. This activity provides 1 AMA PRA Category I credit™.
- Pediatric Conference is held monthly every third Thursday at 12:30pm and provides an update on various topics related to pediatric patient care. This activity provides 1 AMA PRA Category I credit™.
Wednesday CME Conferences
Conferences are held the first and second Wednesday of each month (excluding November and December) and feature speakers who are on the faculty of teaching institutions in California and other regions of the United States. Topics pertain to patient care and related issues and are selected on a need-basis as expressed by individual Medical Staff members, departments or committees affiliated with Torrance Memorial. Conferences are held from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the medical center's Health Conference Center and a buffet luncheon is served during the presentation. All physicians are welcome to attend. This activity provides 1 AMA PRA Category I credit™. An automated listing of scheduled conferences may be accessed by calling the CME Telephone Number at 310-784-8776.
Please note that calendar listings are subject to change without prior notice. To avoid any inconvenience you may call the CME Telephone Number which contains up-to-the-minute information regarding programs.
Services
The CME Telephone Number is 310-784-8776 and provides quick and easy access to information pertaining to the CME program. The two menu options are:
- Option 1--Wednesday CME calendar: includes date, topic and speaker for the most recent two months of Wednesday CME Conferences
- Option 3--request for CME credits: to leave a message requesting a copy of an AMA PRA Category I credit™ Summary of CME activities accredited by Torrance Memorial Medical Center (please provide physician's name and calendar years needed)
CME Records
Upon request, physicians may receive via mail or email a copy of their AMA PRA Category I credit™ Summary that lists all Torrance Memorial-sponsored CME activities with dates, activity title, learning format and number of AMA PRA Category I credits™ granted. Records are maintained for a minimum of six years.
Medical Library
The Torrance Memorial Medical Library provides a center of readily available books, journals, audiovisuals and services to meet the occupational, educational, research and personal needs of the medical center's physicians, employees, volunteers, patients and their families and the general public. Services include ready reference, circulation, photocopy service, interlibrary loan, literature searches and personal computers with Internet access.
External Web Links
Location
West Tower, First Floor
(The CME Program is located in the Medical Library)
3325 Medical Center Drive
Torrance, CA 90505
Get Directions
Monday - Friday: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (please call before visiting)
Weekends and Holidays: Closed
310-517-4720
DISCLAIMER
Torrance Memorial Medical Center Continuing Medical Education Program makes reasonable and diligent efforts to provide current and accurate information for clients. In addition, the CME Program makes no warrant as to the currency, accuracy or comprehensiveness of the information in the databases, reference works and other materials referenced in external internet sites and disclaims any liability for errors in the information, data or other materials provided to clients. Linking to external internet sites, or sites where these might lead, does not imply endorsement or promotion of the products, services or content by the Torrance Memorial Medical Center CME Program.
