Being a Health professional you must need Continuing Professional Development or Continuing Medical Education (CPD/CME). After you get a professional degree or qualification CME points will help you to upgrade your knowledge regarding your profession.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a broader term that includes different educational programs, including
- Continuing Medical Education (CME),
- Continuing Dental Education (CDE),
- Continuing Nursing Education (CNE),
- Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) and
- Continuing Education (CE).
Health authorities consider CME points a mandatory requirement to maintain your professional license. Almost all specialities are required to go through this process these days. Some of the professionals included
- Pharmacists
- Nurses
- Midwives
- General Practitioners
- Radiologists
- Dentists
CME points refer to the hours which are required to be fulfilled to complete the requirements. Many courses are designed accordingly to deliver the knowledge in a set time. This updated knowledge is then used to raise the standards of medical service in a medical setting.
For example: the Dubai Health Authority requires 20 CME points hours to renew a Pharmacy License every year. Arizona requires an average of 40 hours of CME points every two years.
How to Earn CME Points Online
CME points can be earned online by taking the ongoing educational briefs provided by the website. In most cases you have to check CME points provided online are free or they cost some dimes.
Educational websites are developing these courses with the help of professionals so they are keen to charge you some amount but not always, so most of the time you will be charged for the membership fees. However, some websites also charge for every CME or sometimes for certain types of CME activities only.
CME Points/Hours Accredited bodies
Here are some of the licensed bodies which help you to update your knowledge by earning CME points easily and effectively.
- Educational Agencies – which are responsible for medical knowledge development.
- Hospitals – medical professionals often design C.ME points based on their own professional experiences.
- Educational Institutes – these are the institutes that award professional degrees
- Online websites – this is a new trend. Websites are accredited by regular licensing bodies to process medical information which is authentic and reliable. It’s not a surprise if they create CME points lectures for professionals.
Online Websites for FREE CME (CPD) Credits
Here are top-notch websites that provide complimentary online Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points for healthcare professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and other allied health professionals.
| Websites | Links |
| Medscape.com | Medscape.com |
| Cleveland Clinic – clevelandclinicmeded.com | clevelandclinicmeded.com |
| BMJ Learning free CME for Healthcare professionals | bmjlearning.com |
| Free CME Points Award website – freecme.com | freecme.com |
| CME Points award List – cmelist.com | cmelist.com |
| Nursing CME – nursingceu.com | nursingceu.com |
| Continuing Education for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians – powerpak.com | powerpak.com |
| Nursing Knowledge Center – nursingworld.org/ce/ | https://www.nursingworld.org/search/?q=cme+courses |
| ArcMesa Educators – arcmesa.org | arcmesa.org |
| Where the Dental Community Lives! – dentaltown.com | dentaltown.com |
| RxInsider Connecting Pharmacy Community – rxinsider.com | rxinsider.com |
| ASHP Free Activities – elearning.ashp.org/catalog/free | elearning.ashp.org/catalog/free |
Other than these websites there are some tools which can help you update your knowledge
- Refrigerated Medicines Stability Checker
- Grapefruit medicine interactions: Full list
- Guide to Pharmacy Abbreviations
- USP Chapter 797: Best Practices Explained
FAQs on Earn CME Credit Points for Your Health License
Q: What are CME/CPD Points?
CME/CPD points are often required for healthcare professionals to maintain their licensure or certification. The number of CME/CPD points required varies depending on the profession and the licensing or certification body.
Q: Where to get CME/CPD credits?
Kindly use the above-mentioned online free resources & websites to earn your CME/CPD credits.
Q: How to check CME points?
It depends on the portal you have signed up for. Let’s say you are earning your CME points for nursing on the Medscape online CME portal, your points will be available under your profile section. You can also download the CMS points certificate.
Disclaimer: We don’t have any participation or partnership with any of these CME Points awarding bodies or links published in this article.
