FAQs: Learning Associated With Teaching
What types of teaching activities count for credit?
Teaching activities can include lectures, development of medical cases, supervising clinical or simulated activities, direct instruction, and mentoring projects or scholarly activities.
Can you provide example teaching scenarios?
- Example 1— You prepare a one-hour lecture for a group of residents. This is the first time you will give this lecture, so you do some research and other learning in order to prepare the lecture. You may claim two AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ because you spent an hour teaching residents.
- Example 2— You have a one-hour session with a resident to teach them how to appropriately perform a physical exam. You plan to provide feedback after observing the resident in action. You've taught how to perform the physical exam many times, and don’t need any additional preparation for that part of the session, but you seek out information about effective methods for giving feedback. You then spend 15 minutes of the one-hour session giving feedback to the resident. You may claim 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ because you spent 0.25 hours providing feedback to the resident using the tools and techniques learned in preparation for the activity.
- Example 3— You teach students how to perform a procedure and have done so many times in the past. You don't need to do any additional preparation this time around, and are able to handle all student questions based on accumulated experience over the years. As there was no additional learning involved, it wouldn't be appropriate for you to claim AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ in this instance.
Is there a maximum number of teaching credits I can claim?
Per the Association of American Medical Colleges — There is no limit to the amount of credits one can earn under the Learning Associated with Teaching program. However, faculty can't receive credit more than once for the same time period, even if the audience involves residents and students from more than one program.
What if my state licensing board places a limit on the number of credits for teaching that can be used for license renewal?
Per the American Medical Association — Each entity that requires physicians to obtain CME credit can stipulate what will be accepted to meet that requirement. While the AMA doesn’t place a limit on the number of credits a physician can earn under any format, we do understand that there are state licensing board, certifying board, and other regulations that physicians need to take into account.
As an example, the AMA, for the purpose of qualifying for the Physician’s Recognition Award, does set maximums for some categories, i.e. physicians are limited to using 10 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ obtained for teaching at live AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ activities per year of the award.
These limits are in place to encourage physicians to participate in multiple modes of learning in order to further enhance their professional development. For a full list of the categories and limits, please see page 12 of the AMA PRA booklet. For specific information on what limits your state licensing board may have in place, please contact the licensing board directly.