At its December 1979 meeting, the Committee on Continuing Education, a joint Committee of the Board of Professional Standards and the Executive Council co-chaired by Drs. Edward D. Joseph and James T. McLaughlin, made plans to augment the cosponsorship role of the Association as an accrediting body for continuing medical education at the local society and institute level. These plans were approved by the Board and Executive Council and have now begun to be implemented.
The American Psychoanalytic Association has been approved by the AMA as an accrediting body for continuing education in the field of psychoanalysis. Under the authority given to the Association, the Committee on Continuing Education accepts the responsibility for the programs of the national organization for continuing education credit in appropriate categories. Various forms and procedures have been worked out to assist members with their CME credits. In addition, the Association, through its Committee on Continuing Education, accredits the continuing educational activities of the various institutes. The Association thus acts as cosponsor of the institutes' educational activities, a cosponsorship that works through the medium of the various committees of the Board actively involved in the on-going activities of all institutes.
To provide similar contact and involvement with the continuing educational activities of local societies, as well as certain activities of institutes not directly connected with the ongoing educational process, the Committee on Continuing Education, in its report to the Board and Council, proposed the establishment of a subcommittee composed of representatives from each of the component societies which desire the cosponsorship of the national organization for its programs. In order that a CME program qualify for cosponsorship accreditation, it is required that the American Psychoanalytic Association be involved in the local planning of CME programs and ascertains that the programs and procedures are arranged to comply with cosponsorship requirements. The Committee suggested that each society name a representative who would then be appointed by the president of the American to the subcommittee that will be subsumed under the Joint Standing Committee on Continuing Education and be called “Subcommittee on Cosponsorship.” These representatives should be involved in the program planning of their society, meeting at least once a year, probably during the December meetings. Appointed for a two year period, these representatives will thus provide a direct link between the American and the local society for CME purposes.
For there to be cosponsorship of an educational program, the objectives, faculty, attendance and evaluation procedures used at a local level must meet the criteria of the Committee on Continuing Education of the American, as well as the AMA. Guidelines for these procedures are being developed and, through each Society's representative member of the subcommittee, will shortly be made available. Those institutes that wish to do so may also send representatives to this subcommittee.
Psychoanalysts and their organizations have a long history of involvement in continuing educational activities. Programs specifically oriented to psychoanalysts and to the nature of their field have been developed nationally and locally and can easily be approved for continuing education. Evidence of involvement in continuing educational activities within one's own field is being increasingly demanded by state licensing bodies for renewal of medical licenses, and by various specialty societies, including the American Psychiatric Association, to maintain membership in those organizations. The American received approval as an accrediting body in continuing education in the field of psychoanalysis in 1972. To strengthen the cosponsorship role of the American, this new procedure has evolved.
The new Subcommittee will share information on the educational goals of psychoanalytically oriented continuing educational activities. It will also develop evaluation procedures that meet the specific needs of psychoanalysts and psychoanalytically directed educational programs. Many evaluation procedures applicable in other fields of medicine do not lend themselves to psychoanalysis. Within the field of psychoanalysis there are educational activities of special interest and value to psychoanalysts that do not apply in other areas. Through the Subcommittee, it is hoped to work these out in greater detail to the benefit of the general membership without, at the same time, increasing the burden of administrative detail at either a local or national level.