Impact Education, LLC and California Academy of Family Physicians Unveil Health Coaching Continuing Education Activity for Health Professionals

PHILADELPHIA--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Continuing Medical Education expert, Impact Education, LLC, and the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) have joined forces to offer health care providers meaningful motivational interviewing education to support improvement in patient outcomes.

“Patient-Centered Communication: Core Skills for Motivation and Change”

Health professionals working in chronic disease management have increasingly identified lack of adherence to treatment recommendations as a major barrier to improving patient outcomes. While the health benefits of being adherent seem obvious, patients often lack the motivation and empowerment to actively participate in the self-management of their care. It has become critical for care providers to actively engage their patients in dialogue that can improve adherence and foster behavior modification. Motivational Interviewing is a recently-introduced health coaching approach that addresses issues known to impede patient self-management of chronic illness.

CAFP, in collaboration with Impact Education, has created an online educational program that enables ready access to key information and motivational interviewing techniques that care providers can use with their patients today. The program, “Patient-Centered Communication: Core Skills for Motivation and Change,” was developed using the competencies acquired by years of combined experience in health care and continuing medical education to provide clinicians with fast and easy access to valuable educational resources developed by education experts.

Easily accessible from the Professional Development section of the CAFP website, or at www.impactedu.net/mi, the web-based program has been designed in order to reach a vast audience of physicians and other health care professionals. The on-demand format allows for an unlimited number of participants to access the education based on their own schedule and to return as frequently as needed to reinforce their learning.

Interactive features of the activity include a programmed index page for user navigation of the full activity, automated testing, scoring, and online certificate processing. Printable materials and resource links for the entire clinical team and office staff, and other pertinent information will be offered as well.

The CAFP is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and designates this activity for 2 AMA PRA Category I credits^TM. The activity has also been received and accepted by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) for 2 Prescribed Credits. The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) will provide 2 hours of continued pharmacy education credit for the web archive.

As a provider of innovative continuing educational activities for health care professionals, Impact Education is comprised of a diverse group of industry professionals focused on providing strategic educational value. Impact Education’s in-house clinical development, instructional design, multimedia design, and program operations teams have a reputation for delivering high-quality, well attended, and balanced educational activities that are intended to improve patient outcomes along with increased health care efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The mission of the California Academy of Family Physicians is to:

Advance the personal and professional development of family physicians;
Assist members throughout their careers with resources and support;
Analyze and disseminate trends and information to assist family physicians in their practices; and
Advocate for positions that promote the health of Californians and enhance the role and practice of family physicians collectively and individually.

This motivational interviewing project is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Impact Education, LLC, is an independent, full-service medical education company, delivering value-based continuing education to health care professionals. We develop and publish continuing education designed to advance the knowledge, skills, and behavior of health care professionals so that improvements are made in patient outcomes. Our programs are jointly sponsored activities that use a variety of live and enduring elements to maximize the adult learning needs of various audience types. Further information can be found by visiting www.impactedu.net.

Since 1948, California Academy of Family Physicians has championed the cause of family physicians and their patients. With more than 7,000 members, including active practicing family physicians, residents, and medical students interested in the specialty, CAFP is the largest primary care medical society in California, and the largest chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Membership in CAFP guarantees career-long resources and support that will keep family physicians on the cutting edge of patient care. Further information can be found by visiting www.familydocs.org.