D3-01 - An Approach for Tagging CME Content to Meet Organizational Goals

ABSTRACT

Author(s)

• Brian D. Tomczyk, B.S. Mathematics ,Data Analyst, The Medical College of Wisconsin
• Linda Caples, PhD, Director, CPD, The Medical College of Wisconsin

Purpose/problem statement

CPD professionals may find it challenging to effectively communicate the value of CPD in a manner that addresses the needs and interests of senior leadership within their organization. To address this issue, the Office of Continuing Professional Development at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) began tagging CPD content based on the strategic and clinical priorities of MCW and our clinical partners. The goal was to provide senior leadership and key stakeholders with data-driven information on how the CPD program supports the overall organization and our clinical partners.

Approach(es)

Phase one included gathering data from the MCW strategic plan and identifying the clinical priorities of our two major clinical partners. Next, the team created the list of tags with clear definitions for each tag. This list was limited to 16 tags. Two experienced team members are charged with reviewing all accredited CE activities including each session of regularly scheduled series within the learning management system. Only content that met the definition of a tag was tagged. Content is tagged quarterly. Phase two was managed by the Data Analyst who pulls a report from our learning management system, ensures the data’s integrity, and cleans the data. The data is then uploaded to Tableau where it can be used to create visualizations that convey our program’s alignment with our institution’s strategic priorities.

Findings

In 2023 and 2024, we focused on three MCW strategic priorities: Health Starts from Within, Preferred Choice, and Health of Our Community. Additionally, we focused on three clinical priorities of our partners: cardiac care, neuroscience, and mental health. 1,108 of 2,805 touchpoints across 93 activities received at least 1 tag. Upon analysis and visualization, it was discovered that our CE enterprise awarded 1,189.5 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion related credits, 5,248.5 Mental Health related credits, and 2,906 Opioid Education related credits. 2024 results will also be included once we have access to that data.

Discussion (including Barriers/Facilitators if relevant)

Clear definitions of each tag coupled with only two staff responsible for tagging aides in ensuring consistency in content tagging which is critical for data analysis. It is important to spend considerable time planning which tags to implement and limiting the number of tags. These may vary according to your own institution’s strategic priorities or measures of success. Reaching out to leadership may prove helpful in driving tag design.

Impact/relevance to the advancement of the field of CME/CPD

There is a real opportunity for CME/CPD offices to ask questions of their data and look at their current information differently. It can be hard to determine what data is most useful when answering data-driven questions and the use of organizational strategic priorities is a helpful step. By implementing a tagging system that flags different activities based on their content, CPD professionals can quickly sort activities into categories relevant to their institution’s goals. This process speeds up the data preparation workflow and allows a CPD program to customize the types of data they have access to.