he educational mission of ASA is to elevate the standards of our specialty by “fostering and encouraging education, research and scientific progress in anesthesiology.”¹ The Committee on Outreach Education has an important educational charge — to investigate the needs of the membership for future educational offerings. The members of the committee take seriously their commitment to be proactive and innovative regarding future continuing medical education (CME) needs.

One of the primary drivers of determining education programs that serve to elevate the standards of our specialty is member input. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is increasingly used in a diagnostic role by anesthesiologists. While ASA’s Practice Guidelines for Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography define “basic” and “advanced” levels of TEE proficiency, no pathway to achieve and demonstrate “basic” TEE proficiency is currently available.

In October of 2006, the House of Delegates approved the development of a basic echocardiography education program and resolved “…that ASA uniquely or collaboratively explore a pathway for supporting privileges in basic perioperative echocardiography for anesthesiologists.” This charge came as a direct result of member input detailing institutional encumbrances anesthesiologists were experiencing in gaining privileges to use echocardiography as a basic perioperative monitor.

This article details ASA’s involvement in developing a solution to the above problem and will provide an update on the second year of an exciting new Web-based CME program — Annual Meeting Highlights.

Perioperative Echocardiography
At the conclusion of the ASA 2006 Annual Meeting, the Committee on Outreach Education developed a workgroup, led by Robert M. Savage, M.D., to develop a strategic plan regarding basic perioperative echocardiography. The workgroup immediately organized a weekend workshop on Basic Perioperative Echocardiography that was held in Phoenix in November 2007. The workshop was oversold, and attendees had the ability to obtain a “Certificate of Completion” at the conclusion of this workshop. Though credentialing is a local hospital process, the “Certificate of Completion” may serve as a starting point for our members seeking hospital credentials in basic nondiagnostic TEE.

Long term, ASA, in collaboration with the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA), has developed a strategic plan that would ultimately make available to ASA members a CME course on basic perioperative echocardiography four times a year. Two of the courses would be integrated into existing SCA meetings: 1) the SCA’s Annual Comprehensive Review and Update of Perioperative Echocardiography, which is held in February, and 2) SCA’s annual meeting, which is held in the spring of each year (see www.scahq.org).

The other two courses will be ASA-sponsored events that will occur on weekends during the last half of the year. The four courses will be held in geographically diverse locations, thus increasing the accessibility of a course to ASA members.

ASA and SCA have also agreed to share Web site links to various electronic educational resources such as the SCA Echo Rounds (scahq.org/sca3/rounds), University of California-San Francisco TEE Web site (ucsf.edu/teeecho) and e-Echocardiography.com.

Finally, ASA is close to finalizing an agreement with the National Board of Echocardiography for a Certificate in Basic Perioperative Echocardiography. You will hear more about the details of this certificate in the future. This was a phenomenal effort and would not have been possible without the outstanding work of Dr. Warner, Dr. Savage and Daniel M. Thys, M.D.

Annual Meeting Highlights
This past year, in coordination with the Committee on Annual Meeting Oversight, the Committee on Outreach Education launched a Web-based CME program titled “Annual Meeting Highlights.” This program debuted in January 2007 and was highly popular.

The program planned for 2008 consists of the following topics with a maximum of 19.5 hours of CME credit:

• Staying Out of Trouble in the Office

• CAD and Stents: Perioperative Management for Cardiac and Noncardiac Surgery

• Clinical Approaches to Complex Coagulation Abnormalities

• Intensive Insulin Therapy

• General Anesthetic Neurotoxicity: Can It Be Bad When It’s So Good?

• What’s New in Obstetric Anesthesia

• Treatment of Cancer Pain

• Spinal Cord, Peripheral Nerve and Peripheral Nerve Field Stimulation for the Treatment of Pain

• Sedation/Analgesia for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures in Children Outside of the Operative Room

• ASA Closed Claims Registries and Patient Safety

• Regional Anesthesia: No Pus, No Blood, No Pain

• 2007 Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture: James E. Cottrell, M.D.

• 2006 Annual Meeting Plenary Session: Sten G. Lindahl, M.D., Ph.D.

The above detail just a few of the recent activities of the Committee on Outreach Education. The success of our committee’s activities would not be possible but for the talents and commitment of its members. If an ASA member has an idea or feedback concerning a specific CME activity, that member may contact me as chair or any member of the committee.

Members of the 2008 Committee on Outreach Education include:

Daniel J. Cole, M.D., Chair

Audree A. Bendo, M.D.

Casey D. Blitt, M.D.

Brenda A. Gentz, M.D.

Nikolaus Gravenstein, M.D.

Glenn P. Gravlee, M.D.

Leslie C. Jameson, M.D.

Linda J. Mason, M.D.

Mohammed M. Minhaj, M.D.

Robert M. Savage, M.D.

Armin Schubert, M.D., M.B.A.

Paul B. Yost, M.D.

Ellen Bateman, Ed.D., ASA Liaison.

Reference:
1. Educational Mission Statement of ASA. Approved by the ASA House of Delegates on October 17, 2001, and amended on October 25, 2005. www.ASAhq.org/aboutAsa/Educational MissionStatement.pdf.

Robert M. Savage, M.D., is Head, Section of Perioperative Echocardiography, Departments of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia and Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Health System, Cleveland, Ohio.

Daniel J. Cole, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona.

Mark A. Warner, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and Dean, Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.