Continuing Medical Education Credits

Education is an ongoing process for physicians, andacquiring state-of-the-art information is vital to the maintenance of excellent patientcare. Physicians have numerous means of acquiring and meeting their educationalobjectives. Beginning with this issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology, there is nowanother readily available means of acquiring category 1 continuing medical education (CME)credits on a monthly basis.
The main objective of our journal is education. The ARCHIVES aims to inform itsreaders of progress, new developments, and pertinent research in areas related to thepractice of ophthalmology through the monthly publication of original scientificcontributions and observations. Beginning with this issue, we are pleased to announce theinitiation of the Reader's Choice CME program. Physicians holding current, valid licensesin the United States, Canada, or Mexico, and who read any 3 of the selected articles inthe current issue, are now eligible for 1 hour of category 1 credit toward the AmericanMedical Association Physician Recognition Award. This CME service is provided free toreaders of the ARCHIVES through the American Medical Association, which is accredited bythe Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to sponsor CME for physicians.While physicians from other countries may also participate in this program, only thosefrom the United States, Canada, or Mexico are eligible for the Physician RecognitionAward.
Information and guidelines regarding this new program are published in this issue onpages 294-295, and will continue to appear monthly. Thus, in the span of 1 year, a readermay earn up to 12 category 1 CME credits by reading 3 of the selected articles each month,filling out the CME evaluation form, and sending or faxing the form to the indicatedaddress or number listed in the CME evaluation form. To receive credit, readers mustperform this function within 1 month of the publication date of the current issue ofARCHIVES.Verification of reading of the articles is on the honor system, though the readeris required to fill out an evaluation form rating the educational value of the selectedarticles and providing readability feedback directly to the ARCHIVES. This will help us toassess the educational needs of our readers on an ongoing basis.
The editor of the Archives of Ophthalmology, the associate editors, and theeditorial board will select the articles that are eligible for CME credit. The articleswill encompass a wide array of topics, involving both the clinical and laboratorysciences, along with the specialty areas of ophthalmic molecular genetics, epidemiologyand biostatistics, socioeconomics of ophthalmology, ophthalmology in other countries, andclinicopathologic reports. In this issue there are 13 eligible articles. The title of eacharticle is listed on the CME from, along with its educational objective.
I believe that this Reader's Choice CME program will provide a valuable asset forthe readers of the Archives of Ophthalmology. All physicians are expected (or required) toaccumulate annual CME credits, and this program allows readers of the ARCHIVES todetermine their own educational needs and to do so in the comfort of their office or home.Category 1 CME credits may also be very useful and vital for ophthalmologists withtime-limited American Board of Ophthalmology certificates, as well as for physicians inother areas of training. This program will also provide a valuable source of continuingfeedback to the journal itself, helping to ensure that the Archives of Ophthalmology isproviding reliable and timely information regarding progress, problems, and pertinentresearch in the field of ophthalmology. I look forward to receiving feedback from thereaders of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

投稿截止日期1999年7月3日