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CME LLC Announces Clinician Feedback and Remaining Educational Sessions for Its 2006 Lifelong Learning Initiative on Bipolar Disorder

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 September 2006, 12:01 CDT

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- CME LLC, a leading provider of fully accredited continuing medical education programs, today announced clinician feedback collected in response to the 2006 Lifelong Learning Initiative on Bipolar Disorder, a full curriculum of nationwide continuing medical education programs offered through December.

First offered in 2005, the Lifelong Learning Initiative on Bipolar Disorder provides primary care physicians with the latest advances for diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder. Communicating this information on the latest findings is critical since five percent of the population suffer from bipolar disorder or bipolar spectrum disorders(1). Since the illness can be very difficult to diagnose accurately, many people's lives are seriously affected as a result of not receiving appropriate treatment.

"We began offering educational sessions as part of the 2006 Lifelong Learning Initiative on Bipolar Disorder in June," said Marsha Meyer, RPh, senior vice president of clinical information for CME LLC. "Based on the feedback we've already received, we anticipate a great deal of demand for the remaining 2006 sessions."

Already, 2,280 clinicians have attended the first 17 meetings. Thus far, the educational program has met the expectations of clinician learners, with 91 percent of attendees rating the program as either good or excellent when asked to rank the overall quality of the educational activity.

The entire 2006 program offers more than 50 live meetings across the U.S. and regularly updated online activities through the program's Web site, bipolar.CMELLC.com. Each provides clinicians with opportunities to earn free continuing medical education credits and addresses one of six core topics identified during needs assessment as a major area of educational need within primary care: diagnosis, complex treatment issues, collaborative care, patient adherence, the stigma of mental illness, and culture and special population issues. CME LLC's "Bipolar Challenge" self assessment quiz guides clinicians to the most appropriate education by helping them understand what they already know versus what they still need to learn. Clinicians can access clinical puzzles, expert interviews, case studies, articles and more through the online portions of the 2006 program.

"In 2005, this program addressed major educational needs in the diagnosis and treatment of this complex illness," said Meyer. "An outcomes study demonstrated significant progress in addressing these needs, but this deceptive disease warrants additional education."

Primary care physicians are usually a patient's first point of contact, and due to the complexity of bipolar disorder, it is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed illnesses. On average, 35 percent of bipolar patients wait 10-12 years before receiving an accurate diagnosis(2). Data from CME LLC's outcomes measurement study for the 2005 Lifelong Learning Initiative on Bipolar Disorder showed 64 percent of physicians who went through a portion of the program were confident in their ability to identify bipolar disorder after the educational intervention, but residual educational needs persisted.

Clinicians can follow the recommendations of the "Bipolar Challenge" self-assessment tool and participate in activities to receive the maximum educational benefit of this curriculum, while earning free continuing medical education credits. An outcomes measurement study will analyze data collected prior to the program launch, immediately after education and 60 days following the completion of the full curriculum to determine if the objectives of the program were met and to what extent educational gaps outlined during needs assessment still exist. Primary care physicians and other healthcare professionals can register for events, participate in each online activity, track credits and learn more about these important patient care issues at http://bipolar.cmellc.com/.

CME LLC's Lifelong Learning Initiative on Bipolar Disorder is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from AstraZeneca.

About CME LLC

CME LLC is a leading provider of fully accredited continuing medical education programs and offers a wide range of informational and educational resources for healthcare professionals. Based in Irvine, Calif., CME produces a variety of conferences, multimedia home-study products and Web sites and is the sponsor of the U.S. Psychiatric & Mental Health Congress and the Issues in Medicine: U.S. Medical Congress. For additional information, visit http://www.cmellc.com/.

1. Hirschfield RM, Calabrese, JR, Weissman MM et al (2003), J Clin Psychiatry 64(1):53-58 2. Hirschfield RM, Lewis L, Vornik LA (2003), J Clin Psychiatry 64(2): 161-174.

CME LLC

CONTACT: Kraig Smith of PReturn Inc., +1-312-432-9405,ksmith@preturn.com, for CME LLC

Web site: http://www.cmellc.com/http://bipolar.cmellc.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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