10 Free CME Courses Every Physician Should Take

There are many continuing medical education (CME) courses available for physicians. To help you choose what to take, we put together a list of courses that cost nothing, are available to physicians of any kind, and are eligible toward fulfilling your CME requirements for the year.

Here are 10 free CME courses every physician should take.

 

1. End of Life Care

Credit offered: 1.25 ACCME credits

You don’t have to work specifically in end-of-life care to care for a patient who’s at the end of their life. All physicians deal with dying patients, making this course a smart one to take.

In this course, you’ll discuss the case management standards of practice and their application to end-of-life issues, as well as review the concepts of death, grief, loss, bereavement, and coping strategies for patients and families.

By learning these lessons, you’ll be able to identify the principles of pain management, symptom management, and palliative care in end-of-life cases. You’ll also be able to apply the four levels of hospice care and the Medicare hospice consultation rule.

 

2. HIV for Primary Care

Credit offered: 1 ACCME credit

Approximately 1.1 million Americans have HIV, with 15 percent of them unaware they’re infected, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

If you want those numbers to go down, we highly recommend this course. You’ll learn how to identify indications and modalities for screening, recognize common HIV-related problems, and determine basic treatment principles and possible complications for the disease. 

Having this deep of an understanding as a physician can greatly affect how you treat this.

 

3. Emotional Intelligence

Credit offered: 1 ACCME credit

Unfortunately, the role emotions play in a person’s overall wellbeing is often downplayed. This can be avoided by learning about emotional intelligence.

This course delves into the definition of emotional intelligence, describing the link between intent (awareness) and impact (behavior). You’ll learn how to identify strategies for improving wellbeing by leveraging emotional intelligence, treating the patient as a whole.

 

4. Headache Treatment Options

Credit offered: 1 ACCME credit

Nearly everyone has a headache occasionally, according to the World Health Organization. So, you’re pretty much guaranteed to come across this in your practice, making it essential to have a good understanding of various treatment options.

This course covers that, describing the difference between primary and secondary headache disorders. You’ll also identify the basic mechanism of headache generation. By knowing the various types and causes of headaches, you can better treat this common issue, providing some relief for your patients.

 

5. Cases in Dermatology

Credit offered: 1 ACCME credit

While you may not be a dermatologist specifically, physicians of all kinds at least come in contact with skin issues in their patients, making learning more about it crucial.

In this course, you’ll learn how to evaluate and manage common skin conditions, identify severe skin conditions, and identify systemic diseases that have symptoms present on the skin itself—which is common in several diseases.

 

6. Traumatic Brain Injury: The Role of Medical Rehabilitation

Credit offered: 1 ACCME credit

Millions of Americans suffer brain injuries every year, with more than half requiring hospitalization, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. People with severe brain injuries usually need rehabilitation. While you may not be directly involved in this process, you may be a patient’s first point of contact, making it essential to learn as much as you can.

This course does just that, going in-depth on these traumatic brain injuries. You’ll learn about several medications that may have a positive effect on the outcome and how often these patients return to work within one year. You’ll also explore the emerging role of Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing in the assessment of brain injuries.

 

7. Depression in Primary Care

Credit offered: 1 ACCME credit

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly 7 percent of the U.S. population (almost 16 million adults) reported having at least one major depressive episode in the last year. This course dives deeper into this very common issue.

You’ll learn how to diagnose depressive disorders, the difference between depression and various related conditions, and the issues surrounding the use of multiple drugs for depression. After completing the course, you’ll be able to identify treatment planning for depressive disorders, including which medications to use and avoid.

 

8. Advanced Cancer: Analyzing Patient Discussions

Credit offered: 0.5 ACCME credit

It’s absolutely essential that a patient understands their cancer diagnosis. The more they grasp, the better the treatment decisions they’ll make and the more motivated they’ll be to beat the disease. Since physicians help control that narrative, it’s important to know the best methods.

This course covers that. In the course, you’ll look at the findings of a study that examined previous clinical discussions on prognosis to see how the patients’ understanding of their advanced cancer illnesses has changed over time.

 

9. Cholesterol & Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Credit offered: 0.5 ACCME credit

Fitness science is regularly evolving, making keeping up with it important for a physician. 

This course will help you do that, by taking you through a study that sought to assess the longitudinal, aging-trajectory of lipids and lipoproteins for an adult’s life course and determine whether cardiorespiratory fitness modifies the age-associated trajectory of lipids and lipoproteins. 

Given so many patients are interested in the connection between fitness and health, this course can help you better care for and explain this topic to them.

 

10. Migraine & Stroke Risk

Credit offered: 0.5 ACCME credit 

Are strokes and migraines connected? That’s what this course explores.

In the course, you’ll discuss the findings of a study that aimed to determine the association between migraines and strokes and a combination of vascular events, including heart attacks and death. You’ll also look at the impact of smoking on the link between strokes and migraines, as well as review the needs for future research on this topic.

These are only 10 of the many free CMEs for physicians we offer on our platform. For access to our entire catalog, be sure to claim your free account today.

Physician burnout and depression is also becoming quite prevalent in the healthcare industry and research shows a strong connection between sleep and depression. Learn more about how they are connected.