CME accreditation and compliance

All AO educational activities are aligned with local and regional CME accreditation requirements.

Commitment to quality and high standards in Continuing Medical Education (CME)

The AO Foundation is a trusted provider of the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®)

 

The EACCME® recognizes the outstanding quality of CME Live educational events organized by a number of providers over many years and trusts that such providers will continue to maintain a record of excellence in CME activities.

The AO Foundation is a proud member of the Good CME Practice Group. The aim of the group is to guide European CME providers to contribute to improving health outcomes. It does this by:

  • Championing best practice in CME/CPD
  • Maintaining and improving standards
  • Mentoring and educating the provider community
  • Working in collaboration with critical stakeholders.

Core principles of AO educational activities:

1. Academic independence

Development of all curricula, design of scientific event programs, and selection of faculty are the sole responsibilities of volunteer surgeons from the AO network. All education is planned based on needs assessment data, designed and evaluated using concepts and evidence from the most current medical education research, and involving the expertise of the AO Education Institute.
Industry participation is not allowed during the entire curriculum development and planning process, to ensure academic independence and keep content free from bias.


2. Compliance to accreditation codes

Planning, organization, and execution of educational activities follow existing codes for accreditation of high-quality education:


3. Branding and advertising

No industry logos or advertising (with the exception of the AO Foundation and AO Clinical Division) are permitted in association with education and in the area where educational activities take place.
Industry staff are not allowed to interfere with the educational content or engage in educational activities during the events.
Sponsors providing financial or in-kind support are allowed to have a promotional booth or run activities outside the educational area.


4. Transparency

All relevant information is disclosed to the learners so that they fully understand how the content has been developed and presented.
This includes:

  • Conflicts of interest disclosures of faculty involved in the development and delivery of the scientific content
  • Financial or in-kind support received from sponsors.

5. Use of technologies and products in simulations

If case simulations are chosen as an educational method to develop skills, only technology approved by the AO Technical Commission (AO TC) will be used. AO TC is a large independent group of volunteer surgeons developing and peer-reviewing new technology. More information about AO TC, its development and approval process can be found on the here.


6. Compliance to industry codes

Events that receive direct or indirect unrestricted educational grants or in-kind support from industry follow the ethical codes of the medical industry, such as:

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