Evidence of Improved Knowledge and Skills Among Hematologists/Oncologists Participating in Online CME-Certified Activities
Authors: Willis Lauren , Van Laar Emily S. , Abair Tristin , Whitney Megan , Costello Caitlin , Krishnan Amrita Y. , Lonial Sagar , Kurtin Sandra , Mikhael Joseph , Landgren Ola 
Published: November 2021

Background: Several regimens are currently available for the treatment of newly diagnosed or relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM). This has subsequently led to the development of a variety of novel management strategies. Because of the rapidly changing treatment landscape, it is challenging for hematologists/oncologists (hem/oncs), particularly those in community-based settings, to stay current on recent data and clinical practice guidelines.

Aim: The objective of this study was to determine if a curriculum of online continuing medical education (CME) activities could improve the knowledge, skills, and confidence of hem/oncs as it relates to the treatment of patients with MM.

Methods: The curriculum contained online CME-certified activities for clinicians that focused on personalizing treatment, managing adverse events (AEs), and integrating new data and agents into clinical practice for the treatment of MM. All activities were developed with input from a steering committee of expert myeloma physicians and a nurse practitioner. There were 10 activities included in this analysis. The impact of education was examined using a repeated-pair design with a pre-/post-assessment. Questions from all activities were grouped into learning topics. Mean knowledge/skill was calculated across all activities, and included questions designed for longitudinal analysis. Statistical significance was assessed using a McNemar's test (5% significance level, P &lt;.05). Data was collected from when the first activity posted on November 11, 2020 through July 8, 2021.

Results: A total of 570 hem/oncs were included in this analysis. A majority practiced in community-based settings (51%), specialized in hematologic malignancies (specialists, 51%), and cared for 1 to 10 patients with MM in a typical month (70%). The percentage of correct responses pre- and post-education across multiple curriculum activities are displayed by subgroup in the Table. Confidence was assessed for various topics on the scale of 1-not confident to 5-very confident. Hem/oncs were considered confident if they rated their confidence a 4 or 5. The pre-/post-education percentage of hem/oncs who were confident (4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5) personalizing treatment: 18%/23% academic (P &lt;.01, relative percentage improvement, RI +56%), 17%/31% community (P &lt;.001, RI +82%), 18%/30% specialists (P &lt;.001, RI +67%), 13%/25% average 10 or fewer patients with MM per month (P &lt;.001, RI +91%).

Conclusions: The series of CME-certified activities had a significant, positive impact on knowledge, skills, and confidence across all learning themes for all hem/oncs, but especially community-based hem/oncs and specialists in hematologic malignancies.

For almost all learning themes, community-based hem/oncs demonstrated similar or higher knowledge/skills post-education than their academic-based counterparts. Community-based hem/oncs also demonstrated larger relative improvements in knowledge/skills than academic-based hem/oncs.

Hem/oncs who saw fewer patients with MM on average per month demonstrated a larger relative percentage improvement with these learning themes: foundational knowledge, knowledge of clinical trial data, knowledge of treatment regimens, knowledge of SDM. Hem/oncs who saw a higher number of patients with MM on average per month demonstrated larger relative percentage improvement with these learning themes: knowledge of MRD, skills personalizing treatment, knowledge of AEs, skills managing AEs, skills using SDM.

This analysis shows that online CME using multimedia formats can significantly improve the knowledge, skills, and confidence of hem/oncs in multiple areas related to best practices for treating patients with newly diagnosed or R/R MM. The impact on community-based hem/oncs was significant and closed large knowledge and skill gaps compared to their academic peers. Results also suggest the following areas warrant further education: case-based application of treatment options and AE management as well as best practices for individualizing treatment.

Acknowledgements: Sukhbir Bahra contributed to data analysis for this research. These CME activities were supported by an independent educational grant from AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Oncopeptides, and Sanofi Genzyme.

Reference: https://www.medscape.org/sites/advances/multiple-myeloma

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Disclosures

Krishnan: BMS: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Speakers Bureau; MAGENTA: Consultancy; REGENERON: Consultancy; SANOFI: Consultancy; GSK: Consultancy; JANSSEN: Consultancy, Research Funding; City of Hope Cancer Center: Current Employment; Amgen: Speakers Bureau. Lonial: Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria; TG Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS/Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AMGEN: Consultancy, Honoraria; GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Merck: Honoraria. Kurtin: Abbvie, Amgen, BMS, Incyte, Pharmacyclics, GSK, AstraZeneca, Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Mikhael: Janssen: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy; Oncopeptides: Consultancy; GSK: Consultancy. Landgren: Amgen: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Janssen: Research Funding; Janssen: Other: IDMC; Celgene: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Takeda: Other: IDMC; GSK: Honoraria.