MISSION STATEMENT OF THE AACAP

REGARDING CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is a professional medical organization comprised of child and adolescent psychiatrists trained to promote healthy development and to evaluate, diagnose, and treat children and adolescents and their families who have disorders of feeling, thinking, and behavior. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s role is to lead its members through collective action, peer support, continuing education, and mobilization of resources.

The goal of continuing education activities of the AACAP are to enhance the physician’s ability to:

1.                  Improve clinical treatment of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders;

2.                  Improve the health and development of infants, children, and adolescents at risk for psychiatric disorders who have experienced severe stress (child abuse, extreme poverty, medical disorders);

3.                  Carry out research in basic science, clinical treatment, health care delivery, and prevention;

4.                  Remain up-to-date in regards to developments in our scientific knowledge base.

Education should be focused on important current areas, including: genetics (including molecular genetics); diagnostic imaging techniques; pediatric AIDS; effects of parental problems including divorce and substance abuse; children at risk due to severe parental psychopathology; sexual development, pregnancy and abortion in adolescence; child abandonment; cultural competence; psychopharmacological treatments; short-term and cost-effective continuum of care; and maintaining an ongoing commitment to psychotherapy, particularly dynamic treatment. Additionally, our CME activities will need to anticipate basic scientific developments, changes in diagnoses and treatment, pubic policy and health care delivery, so as to keep our members current with new developments in the field.

Concerns regarding ethics will continue to be evident in our educational programs. All of the AACAP’s continuing medical education activities are designed to improve the way we practice in our profession. The expected results of AACAP’s CME program include changes in competence or performance.

AACAP’s current CME activities include: the Annual Meeting offering up to 50 hours of continuing medical education; the Review Course offering approximately 28 hours of CME credit; the Lifelong Learning Institute on Maintenance of Certification offering approximately 12 hours of CME credit; the Psychopharmacology Update Institute offering approximately 12 hours of CME credits; a Systems of Care symposia, offering up to 6.5 hours of CME credit, an annual enduring material module for maintenance of certification offering approximately 30 hours of CME credit, online CME activities offering approximately 2-12 hours of CME credit, and other programs as needed (by special application).

Reviewed by CME Committee October 29, 2008.  Executive Committee approval February 2009.