Online CME: Gastroenterology
Last Updated March 9, 2010.

Special Notice!! Looking for reviewers to help keep the List up-to-date.

The sites described on this page are primarily concerned with gastroenterology. You will find additional online CME sites and courses partially concerning gastroenterology at the main online CME site.

(AskAFIP) Armed Forces Virtual Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Biopsy Course
Last visited....10/2009.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...2.0 per module (total of 10 hours).
Awarded by....AFIP.
Cost for Credit....$25.
Instruction Type....Text-and-Graphics.
Target Audiences....PATH, GI.
Educational material last updated...Not stated.
Financial Support...None Stated.

Register or log in at the AskAFIP Home Page. Then choose "Education," then "Course Catalog" to scroll your way down to Virtual Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Biopsy Course. This course is presented by the Division of Gastrointestinal Pathology, AFIP. The course has 5 modules; each module consists of eight cases with a brief case history and a set of microscopic slides of an endoscopic biopsy.

Cleveland Clinic B-SMART: Hepatitis B
Last visited...2/2009.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...7 brief lectures, each awarding 0.25 or 0.5 hours (total of 2.75 hours).
Awarded by....Cleveland Clinic.
Cost..........Free.
Instruct. Type...Slide-Video Lecture.
Target Audiences...FP, IM, ID, GI.
Educ. material last updated....2009.
Financial Support...Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead. 

Lecture titles: Prevalence and Natural History of Hepatitis B in the 21st Century; Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Hepatitis B and Prevention through Treatment; Understanding Cultural Barriers; Hepatitis B Treatment: Current Best Practices How to Avoid Resistance; Debate: Monotherapy vs. Multiple Drug Therapy as the Wave of the Future for HBV infection; HBV in Pregnancy; and HBV-HIV Co-infection.

Cleveland Clinic Hepatic Effects of Biologic Agents: Current and Future Issues in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Last visited...2/2009.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD
Credit hours...A single monograph offering 0.75 hours.
Awarded by....Cleveland Clinic.
Cost..........Free.
Instruct. Type...Text-Only (pdf).
Target Audiences...RHEUM, GI.
Educ. material last updated....2008.
Financial Support...Roche.

A single monograph, Hepatic Effects of Biologic Agents: Current and Future Issues in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. The monograph is a report of a discussion between a rheumatologist and a hepatologist of the hepatic effects of biologic agents in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and their potential for the treatment of viral hepatitis.

Cleveland Clinic Hepatitis C Management 
Last visited...3/2009.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD
Credit hours....2 activities totaling 1.25 hours). 
Awarded by....Cleveland Clinic.
Cost..........Free.
Instruct. Type...Case-Based Interactive.
Target Audiences...GI, ID.
Educ. material last updated....2008.
Financial Support...None Stated.
CME Credit Expires...2009.

Two case-based lessons: Fred is Stuck (what to do about accidental needle sticks); and Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C and No Health Insurance Coverage.

Clinical Care Options Hepatitis  
Last visited...11/2009.
Reviewed by Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...about 40 activities offering about 20 hours.
Awarded by....Various Sponsors.
Cost..........Free.
Instruction Type...Text-with-Slides or Case-Based-Interactive).
Target Audience....GI.
Educ. material last updated...2009.
Financial support...Various pharmaceutical companies.
Credit Expires...One year after posting.

About 40 text-based or case-based-interactive activities concerned with aspects of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infection. All of these categories offer CME credit: Conference Coverage, Journal Options, Management Series, Treatment Updates, Annual Updates and Interactive Cases. Not all activities offer CME (look for the term, "CME-certified").

Hepatitis Web Study
Last visited...3/2010.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...0.5 per module (total of 11 hours)
Awarded by....University of Alabama Continuing Medical Education.
Cost for Credit......Free. 
Instruction Type...Case-Based Interactive.
Target Audiences...FP, IM, ID, GI.
Educational material last updated...2/2010.
Financial Support...CDC.

A set of brief (30 minutes) case simulations about Hepatitis A (3), Hepatitis B (13) and Hepatitis C (6).

HIV and Hepatitis.com
Last visited...8/2008.
Credit hours...23 activities offering 1 to 4 hours each (probably about 40 hours).
Awarded by....Various sponsors
Cost for Credit......Free. 
Instruction Type...Slide-Audio Lectures, Slide-Video lectures, Monographs (pdf), Podcasts, 
Target Audiences...HIV/ID, GI.
Educational material last updated...2008
Financial Support...Multiple pharmaceutical companies.
CME Credit Expires...One year after posting.

Click on Library of CME/CE Programs. You will find 23 programs on various aspects of HIV and Hepatitis. Some programs have multiple sections and offer up to 4.0 hours of credit.

(The) Liver Meeting 2008
Last visited...2/2008.
Credit hours...About 38 activities offering a total of about 38 credit-hours.
Awarded by....American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Slide-Audio Lecture.
Target Audience...GI.
Educational material last updated...2008.
Financial Support...Various pharmaceutical companies.

After logging in, click on "2008 Best of the Liver Meeting Lectures & Abstracts." Some titles include: Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Surgery State-of-the-Art: Hepatic Tolerance; Leon Schiff State-of-the-Art: Acute Liver Failure; Hyman Zimmerman State-of-the-Art: Nuclear Receptors... Vitamin D D'Livers; General Hepatology Updates: Status & Future Treatment of Hep C; Treatment of Autoimmune Hepatitis; and Non-Surgical Therapies for HCC.

Medscape Gastroenterology
Last visited...10/2009.
Credit hours...Varies from time to time.
Awarded by....Medscape and many other sponsoring organizations.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics, Text-Only, Slide-Audio Lecture, Slide-Video Lecture and Case-Based-Interactive.
Target Audiences....GI.
Educational material last updated...New activities posted frequently.
Financial Support...Many academic, specialty, and commercial sources as well as WebMD.
Expiration of CME Credit...Credit for most activities expires one year after posting.

CME activities of special interest to gastroenterologists. Medscape contains a variety of educational formats:
CONFERENCE COVERAGE - Reports of  advances presented at major medical conferences; typically includes several tracks with news stories, expert interviews, and in-depth topic overviews.
CLINICAL UPDATE - Comprehensive original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
FAST TRACK CLINICAL UPDATE – Narrowly focused original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
CME-LIVE - Real-time online events with streaming video, synchronized visuals, and interactive questions and answers; archived for 1 year.
NEWS-CME - Daily reports of major current medical research articles; 0.25 credits each
JOURNAL CME - Articles selected from a wide selection of conference reports and peer-reviewed journals, including MedscapeGeneralMedicine (MedGenMed).
SPECIAL REPORT CME – Topic-based monthly email newsletter distributed to Medscape’s professional member database by specialty.
INTERACTIVE PATIENT CASES – Original CME activity presented to the physician in an interactive, clinical case-based format. 
CME CIRCLE – Multimedia content certified by other accredited professional education providers, typically from live symposia or monographs, and then posted on Medscape and archived for one year.

Practical Reviews Online in Gastroenterology
Last visited...2/2010.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...36 per year (3.0 per month).
Awarded by.... Johns Hopkins.
Cost..........$317 per year.
Instruction Type...Most is Text-Only; some Audio.
Target Audience...GI.
Educational material updated monthly.
Financial Support...None Stated.
Expiration of CME credit...Two years after date of publication.

Each issue contains a variety of types of presentations: Literature Reviews; Critical Discussion and Commentary; Vital Topic; Audio Reviews; Tables of Contents from Key Journals; and an E-quiz offering 3.0 CME credit-hours.

Projects In Knowledge Advanced Certificate Program in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Last visited...2/2010.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...9 activities for a total of 8.5 credits.
Awarded by…Projects In Knowledge. 
Cost for Credit...Free. 
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics, Audio Podcast.
Target Audiences...GI, ONCO, SURG. 
Educational materials last updated...12/09. 
Financial Support...Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.
CME Credit Expires...One year after posting.

After completing this program, you should be able to: assess the importance of screening, surveillance, diagnosis, and optimal treatment intervention of patients with or at risk of developing HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) through an understanding of the risk factors, disease burden, imaging, and biomarkers to customize interventions leading to improved patient outcomes; analyze the benefits of liver transplantation, surgical resection and ablation therapies in eligible patients with HCC to optimize patient outcomes; compare the benefits of various adjunctive therapies, including ablative therapy, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and chemoembolization; as well as conformal or stereotactic radiation, including radiotherapeutic microspheres, to select single or combined strategies that improve outcomes of patients with HCC; evaluate the benefits of targeted therapeutic agents, based on their efficacy and safety profiles and mechanisms of action, to improve treatment outcomes in patients with HCC; assess tumor- and patient-related factors as predictors of response to determine which patients with HCC are likely to benefit from specific therapies to improve their outcomes; and describe the potential role of systemic chemotherapies in combination with targeted agents, in the future treatment of patients with HCC.

Projects In Knowledge Advanced Certificate Program IV: Bridging Cultural Differences to Improve HBV Treatment in Asian and Other Diverse Communities
Last visited...2/2010.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...18 activities for a total of 16.75 credits. 
Awarded by…Projects In Knowledge. 
Cost for Credit...Free. 
Instruction Type...Text and Audio. 
Target Audiences...GI, ID, ONCO. 
Educational materials last updated...December 19, 2009. 
Financial Support...Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences, Inc. 
CME Credit Expires...One year after posting.

The fourth year of this program features 19 courses presented online over one year, and offers up to 18 credits. The curriculum contains the latest information on HBV virology and genotyping, screening and diagnosis in the Asian community, AASLD, Keeffe, and APASL hepatitis B virus treatment guidelines, and current and emerging treatment strategies. It will also help clinicians understand the impact of cultural differences in the management of HBV infection, with particular focus on the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

TheGut.org
Last visited...5/2009.
Reviewed by...Bernard Sklar, MD.
Credit hours...5 activities offering a total of 15 hours of credit.
Awarded by....Various Sponsors.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Slide-Only lecture, Slide-Video lecture or Text-and-Graphics.
Target Audience...GI.
Educ. material last updated....2009.
Financial Support...Various pharmaceutical companies.

Currently offers 5 activities (some with sub-presentations): Esophageal Disorders Through the Decades: An Evolution in Disease (1.75 credits); Managing Crohn’s disease in the long-term: Ask the Expert! (1.75 credits); Updates from the Front Lines of Crohn's Disease: Achieving a Balance Between Safety and Efficacy (2 credits); Successful Management of IBS-C in Primary Care: Barriers to Care. Patient Scenarios. Knowledge Mastery (2 credits); The Info Center: IBS-C and CC UPDATED WITH NEW HOT TOPICS! (8 credits in 16 sub-presentations).

 

Return to the Annotated List of Online CME (All Specialties)

This list was compiled by Bernard M. Sklar, MD, MS