CME stands for Continuing Medical Education – for doctors.  It’s what’s called lifelong learning.

Certain boards, such as the American Board of Surgery, require it a minimum amount every so often to keep up with certification.

Most doctors do it because they value lifelong learning.

In general I use Continued Education loosely to mean any sort of effort that improves myself as a doctor or as a human being for that matter.

CME in this world stands for a specific form of Continuing Education, and to be deemed official CME, it is regulated by the AMA and the ACCME (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education)

Then officially CME is separated into Category 1 and Category 2 and then there are self assessment variations of Category 1.

CME credits are for M.D.’s and D.O.’s only, and are designated on an hour for hour basis (minus social activities and breaks). Continuing Education Units (CEUs) can be provided to others and are designated as 1/10 credit per 1 contact hour. There is often concern about this “value” difference, but 1 hour of AMA category 1 credit (CME) and 1/10 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) represent the same 1 hour of contact.

For me, learning is more for myself and not for any other organization, but all these great organizations put together great official CME learning opportunities which I’m happy to be a part of.