Our CME quality standards
Healthcare education you can trust
Healthcare professionals need continuing education that is accurate, relevant to practice and worth the time they invest in learning.
CMEPEDIA provides continuing medical, nursing, and dental education, including CME, CNE, and CDE, for doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals. Every activity published on CMEPEDIA must meet defined standards for educational quality, scientific accuracy, independence and transparency.
Our CME accreditation and quality framework combines recognised international continuing education standards with applicable professional and accreditation requirements in India.
Educational activities on CMEPEDIA may be developed by ACCRECENT, our in-house content provider, or supplied by another internationally accredited provider.
Organisations or individuals that do not already produce internationally accredited healthcare education can collaborate with ACCRECENT to develop their content and prepare it for accreditation. ACCRECENT develops educational activities in collaboration with doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, patients and caregivers, healthcare institutions, professional associations and other subject-matter experts. External activities are not accepted solely because the provider holds accreditation. CMEPEDIA also reviews whether the activity is suitable for our learners and meets our standards for educational design, evidence, transparency and independence.
Every educational activity follows a structured quality process:
- Need assessment : Define the problem in healthcare practice or patient care that the education should address.
- Plan the activity : Identify the intended learners, expected change and learning objectives.
- Develop the content : Use current evidence, relevant guidance and appropriately qualified experts.
- Review independently : Assess scientific accuracy, clinical relevance, balance and educational value.
- Assess and accredit : Verify the assessment, disclosures and applicable accreditation requirements.
- Evaluate and improve : Use learner feedback, educational outcomes and new evidence to guide improvement and renewal.
Every activity must address an identified need in healthcare practice, professional competence or patient care. Needs may be identified through public health data, clinical guidelines, published research, clinical audits, regulatory changes, learner feedback and suggestions from healthcare professionals, patients or caregivers.
Before development begins, the available evidence is reviewed to confirm that the need is genuine and that additional education would provide meaningful value.
The need may relate to:
- Knowledge : what the learner needs to know
- Competence : whether the learner can apply knowledge or make an appropriate decision
- Performance : what the learner does in practice
- Patient outcomes : how practice affects the quality or safety of patient care
Learning objectives are then developed from the verified need. Each objective must be relevant to the practice gap, appropriate for the intended audience, and achievable within the activity.
The learning objectives guide the scope, content, clinical cases, and assessment. During the final review, we confirm that each objective is adequately addressed and appropriately assessed.
Authors and faculty members are selected based on their relevant qualifications, professional experience, subject knowledge and ability to interpret and communicate scientific evidence.
All contributors who can influence educational content must declare relevant interests before participating. Detailed requirements for authorship, contributor responsibilities and competing interests are provided in our Editorial Policy.
Every clinical educational activity undergoes independent review by a suitably qualified subject-matter expert before publication. Using a structured evaluation process, the reviewer verifies that:
- Clinical recommendations are accurate, evidence-based and balanced.
- Supporting research and guidelines are reliable and current.
- Emerging or uncertain evidence is identified clearly.
- The content is free from commercial bias and inappropriate product promotion.
- Unsupported, ineffective or potentially harmful practices are not promoted.
Peer review does not automatically guarantee publication. Material scientific, clinical, commercial-bias or patient-safety concerns must be resolved before an activity is approved.
The learning format is selected according to the intended audience, educational need and expected outcome. Activities may include structured learning sections, clinical cases, and decision-making exercises. Assessments are aligned with the learning objectives and, where possible, evaluate the learner’s ability to apply knowledge rather than recall facts alone. Questions are reviewed for clinical accuracy, clarity, appropriate difficulty and freedom from commercial bias.
The completion requirements for each activity, including any required evaluation or passing score, are stated on the course page.
The quality processes described above are implemented in line with recognised international continuing healthcare education standards rather than internal criteria alone.
ACCRECENT develops internationally accredited continuing education through the European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals (EBAC®). For activities submitted to EBAC, the quality process is independently reviewed as part of the accreditation procedure. This gives healthcare professionals additional assurance that the activity meets internationally recognised standards for educational quality, independence and relevance to professional practice.
EBAC grants accreditation for a defined period. An activity must be reviewed and renewed before it can continue to award EBAC® credits. Only activities that have received approval are described as EBAC-accredited or carry the EBAC® logo.
For activities intended for healthcare professionals in India, we also consider the requirements of the relevant Indian regulatory and professional bodies, including the National Medical Commission, State Medical Councils, Indian Nursing Council, State Nursing Registration Councils, Dental Council of India, State Dental Councils and relevant professional associations.
An activity may hold international and Indian accreditation where permitted. When more than one accreditation applies, it must meet the requirements of each accrediting body.
The accreditation status and credits available are stated on the course page and certificate. Because recognition can vary, learners should confirm whether an activity meets the requirements of their professional Council.
Educational funding can help make continuing education free or more affordable, but it must not compromise the education.
The responsible education provider retains control over the educational need, learning objectives, contributors, content, assessment, evaluation and accreditation. Sponsors cannot influence clinical recommendations, approve content, determine assessment questions or control accreditation decisions. Funding is disclosed where required, and advertising or product promotion is kept separate from accredited education.
Every accredited activity has a defined validity period. During that period, we monitor relevant clinical developments, regulatory changes and concerns reported by authors, reviewers or learners. Before an expired activity is republished, its evidence, recommendations, assessment and contributor declarations are reviewed. The content is updated, independently reviewed and submitted for renewed accreditation where required. If an activity cannot be updated satisfactorily or no longer meets the applicable standards, it is retired.
Our responsibility does not end when an activity is published. We continue to review learner feedback, clinical developments and accreditation requirements throughout its validity period.
By combining needs-led design, current evidence, qualified experts, independent review, recognised accreditation standards and continuing evaluation, CMEPEDIA aims to provide healthcare education that professionals can trust and apply in practice.
