The biggest yearly gathering in CME, the Alliance Annual Conference, just wrapped up in Orlando, Florida, after several engaging days of programming around the theme Destination: Patient Outcomes. Our Journey to Improving Patient Care. Several members of the PlatformQ Health Education (PQH Education) leadership team were in attendance, and we were happy to be able to present two sessions and receive a leadership award for their contributions to the field. One of the delegates from PQH Education was Jayne Chaplick, VP of Digital Education, who remarked positively on the connections and new ideas that stem from this annual event:

“Every year I look forward to the Alliance Annual Conference.  I enjoy catching up with old friends and making new connections.  It affords me the opportunity to learn about what kind of new and innovative approaches my peers are taking to educate todays’ clinicians and gives me insight as to the current trends in education.  I typically come back to the office, energized and enthusiastic to “try” all of the new concepts that I learned.  It’s never as easy as it sounds.”

While Chaplick’s primary focus has been on clinician education at PlatformQ Health Education, her professional background includes years in patient education, and it has always been a personal passion. This year, the conference delved into that passion – and it did not fail to deliver:

“As soon as I saw the 2018 meeting title, “Destination: Patient Outcomes.  Our Journey to Improving Patient Care”, I knew this year would be different.  This is the year that I would nod my head in agreement, smile and say “YES!” over and over again. 

The meeting kicked off with the best keynote I have ever heard; e-Patient Dave deBronkart and Dr. Sands could not have made a clearer case that patients must be partners in their own care team – it could save their lives!  I left feeling incredibly confident that our CME community will continue to create and distribute education that enables other patients to possibly save themselves, like Dave did!  An ambitious, but realistic goal.”

For Chaplick, this year’s Alliance theme was a long time coming. She noted the interest in educating patients for the past several years (indeed, PlatformQ Health started to approach this area three years ago) but the general attempts and discussions of how to address patient populations had not yet garnered the widespread thought and attention she believed it needed. Much of the conversation still rested on patient resources that were neither engaging nor aligned with their clinicians’ continued learning. Chaplick explained:

“For the last 7 or 8 years, the CME community has been talking about the importance of including the patient in their own care, but the evolution started slowly, with basic downloadable patient handouts at the conclusion of an educational activity and the likes.  For the most part, patient education was separate from clinician education.  What sense did that that make?”

She continued,  

“Fast forward a few years, and I heard the term “tethered education” for the first time.  I thought “ok, now we’re getting somewhere!”  The idea of developing education for patients that “compliments” education for clinicians, bringing them together, and maximizing the focus on each and every patient’s opportunity to best manage their own health, was electrifying.

I’m proud to say that our team jumped into this space early with our first “tethered” education program launching in 2015, 6 more programs for patients since, with many more planned in 2018.”

We’re still at the beginning of these advances, but for Chaplick this year’s Alliance Conference marked an important development in the general field of continuing medical education: 

“CME will always be critical and has continued to advance and expand over the years.  This addition of patient involvement is going to be a game-changer! Keep up the great work CME people!!”

To learn more about the PlatformQ Health network of therapeutically-aligned channels for patients and clinicians, please email Lauren Alford at LAlford [at] platformq [dot] com.

Jayne Chaplick is our Vice President of Digital Education. Prior to PlatformQ Health, Jayne served as the Director of Educational Partnerships at Medscape and Vice President of Business Development at MedPage Today.