58 medical licensure boards require between 12 and 50 hours of Continuing Medical Education (CME) for re-licensure of physicians. 28 states as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Mariana Islands, require continuing nursing education (CNE) for nursing re-licensure, with requirements varying from 5 hours per year to 45 hours every 3 years. Continuing education requirements may include self-directed educational programs, academic education, or research and professional activities. To the best of our knowledge, although there are online public health preparedness programs and journal articles that provide continuing education credits, there is no currently available online course on syndromic surveillance available for CME or CNE.
Objective
The Education and Training Committee of the International Society for Disease Surveillance is developing an introductory online CME curriculum in syndromic surveillance for physicians and other health practitioners. This curriculum would also be available for public health practitioners new to syndromic surveillance. The goal of the curriculum is to provide an introductory knowledge of syndromic surveillance for interested practitioners and stimulate healthcare provider cooperation and involvement with syndromic surveillance.