Journal of
European CME
The Open-Access Journal on CME-CPD Practice
LETTERS FROM AMERICA
Introductory Letter from America
Wikipedia says that, “Letter from America was a weekly 15-minute radio <http://
intranet/wiki/Radio> series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 <http://intranet/wiki/BBC_
Radio_4 > and its predecessor, the Home Service <http://intranet/wiki/BBC_
Home_Service >. It ran for 2,869 broadcasts from 24 March 1946 to 20 February
2004, making it the longest-running speech radio programme in history. The
programme was also broadcast for many years on the BBC World Service <http://
intranet/wiki/BBC_World_Service >. Throughout its history, it was presented by
Alistair Cooke <http://intranet/wiki/Alistair_Cooke >.” Wikipedia goes on to say,
“Each week, Cooke would speak of a topical issue in the USA, often tying together
different strands of observation and anecdote.” They first asked Mr. Cooke to do a
dozen “letters” but he went on to do the show for 58 years.
Professor Robin Stevenson asked me to try my hand on a similar project for the
Journal of European CME. I too have about a dozen installments in mind—but
who knows what will happen. I know for sure that my messages will be shorter. At
the average 130 spoken words per minute, Mr. Cooke's messages must have been
about 2000 words. Professor Stevenson has asked me for 500 words. Maybe mine
would be better termed an “Elevator Chat from America.”
My goal will be to write about things that are topical in the CME environment
in America. The subjects may not be new yet, or anymore, in Europe. It will be a
little like time travel. You may not know if I am talking about your past or your
future.
I will also need you to believe that I am not trying to talk anybody, anywhere,
into doing things a certain way or valuing certain things over others. I am just
opening a window, so to speak, to let you look in and see what we are dealing with.
After my 30 years in the CME business, and almost 20 years at the ACCME,
I understand that the culture of continuing professional education varies widely.
As they say, context matters. So, I will need the readers to try and understand the
context of my comments. I will try to provide the context but might not always do
an adequate job. For that I apologize in advance.
Also, this will be my viewpoint and not necessarily be the only American
perspective—and not necessarily the ACCME's viewpoint. I am sure it will only be
nanoseconds before someone else in America weighs in with another perspective.
It is like what I say about driving in America. It is not the wrong side of the road; it
is just the other side of the road.
Finally, I will commit, as long as people speak civilly and respectfully of each
other, to engaging afterwards with the readers via the Journal's “comments”
functionality. Something Alistair Cooke could probably never imagine. Maybe I
will get my 2000 words in, after all!
History
Published online: 27 January 2014
Murray Kopelow
President and Chief Executive Officer
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education
515 North State Street, Suite 1801
Chicago, Illinois 60654, USA
Email: [email protected]
Journal of European CME (JECME) 2014. # 2014 Murray Kopelow. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even
commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
Citation: Journal of European CME 2014, 3: 23752 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/jecme.v3.23752
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