NPSF Announces New Educational Opportunity for ABMS Member Board Diplomates

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) has announced an agreement with the American Board of Medical Specialties® (ABMS®) to bring patient safety education to physicians participating in the ABMS Program for Maintenance of Certification (ABMS MOC®).

The agreement makes the NPSF Online Patient Safety Curriculum available to diplomates of the ABMS Member Boards at a special member rate. This is the first externally produced national patient safety program that has been accepted for consideration by ABMS since 2012, when ABMS decided to replace its proprietary programs with select offerings available in the marketplace.

ABMS consists of 24 Member Boards that certify more than 800,000 physicians. Together, ABMS and its Member Boards work to verify appropriate training, knowledge, and credentials of specialty physicians. While ABMS guides the MOC process, each Member Board is responsible for determining the criteria and curricula for each specialty.

“We are very pleased to be able to make this program available to our Member Boards,” said Lois Margaret Nora, MD, JD, MBA, president and chief executive officer of ABMS. “Diplomates in all specialties commit to lifelong learning, and a number of Member Boards specifically require education in patient safety. This program provides a wonderful opportunity for specialists to meet those requirements while increasing their knowledge of patient safety principles and practices.”

The NPSF Online Patient Safety Curriculum is a 10-module, self-paced course that provides fundamental background and essential knowledge about the science of patient safety, systems thinking and design, measurement and outcomes, risk management, policy and regulatory matters, and other topics. By completing all 10 modules, physicians may earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits.

Under the NPSF-ABMS agreement, the program is available to ABMS Member Board diplomates. Many of the ABMS Member Boards have accepted the NPSF program to satisfy ABMS MOC requirements in the category of Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment. These Member Boards currently include: American Board of Allergy and Immunology, American Board of Anesthesiology, American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, American Board of Dermatology, American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Medical Genetics, American Board of Nuclear Medicine, American Board of Otolaryngology, American Board of Pathology, American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American Board of Plastic Surgery, American Board of Preventive Medicine, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, American Board of Surgery, and American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

“NPSF is proud to be working with ABMS in making this program available to their Member Board diplomates,” said Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, president of NPSF. “The patient safety field is continually evolving, and it is especially gratifying to see recognition from medical and surgical specialties of the need for ongoing learning in this area.”

For additional information about the NPSF Online Patient Safety curriculum, visit http://www.npsf.org/curriculum.