Online CME: Rheumatology
Last Updated January 31, 2008.

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

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

Cleveland Clinic UPDATE: Targeting B Cells in Rheumatic Disease
Last visited...7/2006.
Credit hours.....4.
Awarded by....Cleveland Clinic.
Cost..........Free.
Instruct. Type...Slide-Video lectures
Target Audiences...RHEUM.
Educ. material last updated....2006
Financial Support...Genentech, biogen idec.

Designed for clinicians who are involved in the management of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic vasculitis, Sjögren’s syndrome, immune cytopenias and other rheumatic diseases.  Newsletter (1.25 credits), 3 Webcasts (0.5 hours each) and a Monograph (1.25 hours).

Extra Miles (Rheumatoid Arthritis Cyberounds)
Last visited...7/2007.
Credit hours.....9.
Awarded by...Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Cost.........Free.
Instruction Type....Interactive Game.
Target Audiences....RHEUM.
Educational material last updated....2006
Financial Support...Bristol Meyers Squibb.
CME Credit Expires...August 31, 2009.

Extra Miles is an interactive running game on the roles and mechanisms of action of T cells and B cells, and their impact on the diagnosis, treatment and management of rheumatoid arthritis patients who do not respond to current "biologic" TNF-alpha inhibitors.

Foundation for Better Health Care (FBHC)  
Last visited...5/2006.
Credit hours...0.25 or 1.0 hour; 33 courses offering a total of about 15 hours.
Awarded by...Foundation for Better Health Care.
Cost.........Free.
Instruction Type....Slide-Audio or Text-Only.
Target Audience....ID, RHEUM and others.
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Educational material last updated.....2005.
Financial Support...Many pharmaceutical companies.

You will find courses dealing with autism (1), hormone therapy (1), rheumatoid arthritis (13), hepatitis C (5) HIV (9) and women's health (4). 

Hospital for Special Surgery CME Online Programs
Last visited...1/2008.
Credit hours...2.
Awarded by....Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
Cost..................Free.
Instruction Type...Slide-Video-Lecture.
Target Audiences...RHEUM.
Educational material last updated..2004.
Financial Support...Pharmacia.

You will find two programs: Ultrasound and MRI in the Early Diagnosis of Joint Damage in Rheumatoid Arthritis; and Combining a Biologic Agent with Methotrexate in the Treatment of RA.

Medscape Rheumatology
Last visited...11/2006.
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....RHEUM.
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 rheumatologists. 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.

National Osteoporosis Foundation Continuing Medical Education Opportunities
Last visited...6/2006.
Credit hours.....2.5 hours per course (total of 37.5 hours).
Awarded by....National Osteoporosis Foundation.
Cost for Credit...$10.
Instruction Type....Text-Only (pdf) or slide-video-lectures..
Target Audiences....FP, IM, OB/GYN, ORTHO, RHEUM, ENDO.
Educational material last updated....2005.
Financial Support...Not stated.

Seven courses on various aspects of osteoporosis. Courses include: Clinical Uses of Ultrasound; Over-the-Counter Products & Osteoporosis; The Many Faces of Secondary Osteoporosis; Parathyroid Hormone: Anabolic Therapy for Osteoporosis; Rehabilitation of Patients with Osteoporosis Related Fractures; Treating Osteoporosis After the WHI; and Diagnostic Dilemmas in the Use of BMD Testing. You will also find 8 sets of very nicely presented slide-audio lectures from the 6th International Symposium on Osteoporosis. Each set offers 2.5 credit-hours. Use Internet Explorer and webEx to view and hear these lectures

Osteoporosis Point of Care
Last visited...6/2006.
Credit hours...15.
Awarded by....MedCases.
Instruction Type...Case-Based-Interactive.
Target Audience...ENDO, RHEUM.
Educational material last updated....2006.
Financial Support...Lilly.

This program is designed for endocrinologists and rheumatologists who wish to learn more about best practices for the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of osteoporosis. Other health care professionals who care for these patients will also benefit from this program. This Point of Care project is a three-step program that will provide clinicians with the opportunity to hear from experts on the current state of the art in diagnosing and treating this disease, to practice what they have learned through simulated patient encounters, and to transfer their learning into practice. 

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

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