Given its unique ability to facilitate interaction between primary and specialty care, the Champlain eConsult BASE™ service has the potential to act as an invaluable educational tool for providers by enriching practice-based learning, informing continuing professional development activities, providing opportunities for quality improvement in training programs, and aiding performance assessment to meet accreditation requirements. Primary care providers have previously expressed their appreciation for eConsult's educational benefits. 

 

In order to leverage the service's potential in this area, we are currently pursuing a number of objectives, including:

 

• Establishing partnerships with physician Continuing Medical Education (CME) accreditation organizations in Canada and the United States to establish criteria and processes for including the learning identified through the eConsult process between PCPs and specialist physicians within Maintenance of Certification programs. 

• Developing a toolbox of instruments to prompt collaborative reflection following an eConsult exchange to enable capture of activities that meet accreditation standards for assessment of performance, and to assess the overall quality and impact of eConsult exchanges within the eConsult service.  

• Piloting the toolbox of instruments with PCPs and specialists who participate in the Champlain eConsult BASE™ service.

 

By pursuing these activities, we will be able to understand how eConsult services can support CME among providers.