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After many European countries have invented mandatory accreditation systems, CME credits were expected to safeguard the license, counted by learning hours. Post questionnaires were designed to measure achieved learning objectives.

Now, the preferences of doctors attending CME programs are changing from personal interaction to online media. This trend raises e-CME programs to a higher level of attraction.

It is assumed that the quality of patient care is profoundly affected by the lifelong updated competence and performance of individual health professionals.

CME is mainly aimed at maintaining and improving physicians’ knowledge, skills and behaviors throughout their careers in order to provide safe, effective, and high quality healthcare. The main objective of CME accreditation is, in turn, to promote and guarantee the quality of CME programs.

As we have established in the previous section, great differences exist among European countries in relation to CME and CME accreditation. Those differences mainly arise from the following sources:

:: CME providers
:: CME funding
:: CME accreditation agencies
:: Utilization of CME credits
:: Re-validation systems
:: Role of medical associations and governments

The European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) has developed into the most representative European Medical Organization of medical specialists. UEMS follows the structure and facilitation of accreditation of CME/CPD activities to individual medical specialists throughout Europe with the European Accreditation Council for CME (EACCME). Through this approach, UEMS is able to provide Europe with a coordinated system to facilitate such activity, and at the same time, avoid interfering with the responsibility of national organizations.