Increasing Faculty Attendance at Emergency Medicine Resident Conferences: Does CME Credit Make a Difference?

BACKGROUND: Faculty involvement in resident teaching events is beneficial to resident education, yet evidence about the factors that promote faculty attendance at resident didactic conferences is limited.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether offering continuing medical education (CME) credits would result in an increase in faculty attendance at weekly emergency medicine conferences and whether faculty would report the availability of CME credit as a motivating factor.
METHODS: Our prospective, multi-site, observational study of 5 emergency medicine residency programs collected information on the number of faculty members present at CME and non-CME lectures for 9 months and collected information from faculty on factors influencing decisions to attend resident educational events and from residents on factors influencing their learning experience.
RESULTS: Lectures offering CME credit on average were attended by 5 additional faculty members per hour, compared with conferences that did not offer CME credit (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.9-6.1; P < .001). Faculty reported their desire to "participate in resident education" was the most influential factor prompting them to attend lectures, followed by "explore current trends in emergency medicine" and the lecture's "specific topic." Faculty also reported that "clinical/administrative duties" and "family responsibilities" negatively affected their ability to attend. Residents reported that the most important positive factor influencing their conference experience was "lectures given by faculty."
CONCLUSIONS: Although faculty reported that CME credit was not an important factor in their decision to attend resident conferences, offering CME credit resulted in significant increases in faculty attendance. Residents reported that "lectures given by faculty" and "faculty attendance" positively affected their learning experience.