Education Spotlight
Featuring UC Davis Health Faculty and Programs
At the Office of Continuing Medical Education, we are grateful to be surrounded by a wealth of experienced educators and UC Davis Health faculty members.
The quality of the content that our well-qualified, expert clinicians produce is on the leading edge — and we're dedicated to highlighting those educators that go above and beyond to design unique educational programs.
Learn more about our unique programs by reading our Prior Education Spotlights.
For more information about designing, developing, delivering, evaluating and certifying continuing medical education for quality outcomes, please contact us at (916) 734-5352 or cme@ucdavis.edu.
Transition to Practice
The transition from residency to practice is an important step in a physician’s career. Medical education is offered on a continuum, beginning with undergraduate medical education (UME) in medical school, then transitioning to graduate medical education (GME) with residency and fellowship programs. Healthcare professionals spend most of their career as lifelong learners in continuing medical education (CME) as practicing physicians.
As the Associate Dean of Continuing Medical Education at UC Davis Health, Sandhya Venugopal, M.D., MS-HPEd helped to develop innovative training in partnership with colleagues in graduate medical education to better prepare physicians to transition to practice. On-demand training related to clinical reasoning, professionalism, conflict management and more offer helpful tools to assist healthcare professionals at this critical moment in their careers. Developing this collection of coursework also aligns closely with one of CME’s overarching goals at UC Davis Health, to link UME, GME and CME.
By linking UME, GME and CME through learning opportunities, healthcare professionals have greater resources and preparation to transition to practice and their careers as lifelong learners. A full list of on-demand coursework related to transition to practice may be found in our online education catalogue.
Q&A With Dr. Venugopal
Q: What makes this program unique?
A: A critical step in the development of a physician is the transition from training or graduate medical education (GME) to professional practice or continuing medical education (CME). We know that the medical education community must commit to new models of care that bridge healthcare gaps, and better coordinate the medical education continuum. The coursework available in the CME-GME program addresses the need to move beyond the undergraduate medical education (UME), GME, and CME silos to the lifelong learning model that bridges the gap between current and best practice standards. The program’s goal is to optimize this transition and improve patient outcomes while advancing the medical knowledge and competence of trainees and practitioners.
Q: What are the goals of this program?
A: The goal of the program is to encourage innovation in the development of medical students, trainees, and physicians throughout their career. Residents and faculty are required to teach medical students, other health professionals and peers. This curriculum can be used to equip learners with the necessary skills to become effective educators, improving resident and student education and, ultimately, patient care. Topics covered include clinical microteaching, tips for teaching clinical reasoning, conflict management and professionalism.
Q: If there is one takeaway you want learners to have from this program, what is it?
A: With complex and dynamic health care systems, health care professionals face the challenging task of functioning optimally in such environments. This program allows learners to engage in lifelong learning focusing on communication, collaboration, leadership and professionalism – important skill-based offerings that are needed to adapt to a changing environment.
Q: Why is it important to have this program certified for continuing medical education (CME) credit?
A: Learning doesn’t stop once a license and board certification have been earned and practice begins. CME allows a practitioner to learn and discover viable ways to improve on the patient care they deliver and effectively manage a career in the ever-changing landscape of the medical industry.