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About Continuing Health Professional Education

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees authorized the creation of the University of Mississippi Medical Center Continuing Health Professional Education (CHPE) in 1974. The CHPE was organized to accommodate the demand for multidisciplinary continuing health professional education offered at UMMC in keeping with its purpose “of improved health and well-being for the citizens of Mississippi.”

The purpose of CHPE is to participate in all areas related to the planning and implementation of UMMC-sponsored and jointly provided continuing education activities to accomplish the institution’s continuing education mission effectively. CHPE serves as a link between the schools, departments and divisions at UMMC and health care practitioners in the state for postgraduate non-academic learning experiences.

Department goals include:

• Providing cost-effective, life-long learning experiences for practicing health professionals in Mississippi;
• Offering continuing education programs most needed by health professionals to maintain competence in their chosen fields of practice;
• Improving patient care throughout Mississippi by providing needed life-long learning experiences.

Continuing health professional education consists of planned, organized learning experiences designed to augment the knowledge, skills and attitudes of health care professionals for the enhancement of their practice, education, administration and research to the end of improving health care for the public.

Goals

The overall goals of CHPE at UMMC are to:

• Develop and provide high quality, evidence-based, life-long learning experiences for health care professions in a cost-effective manner;
• Provide activities identified by proven professional practice gaps and needs of health care providers to maintain competence in their chosen area of health care practice;
• Deliver activities designed to advance physician competence, enhance practice performance, promote patient safety, interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism and, where possible, improve patient outcomes based on scope of practice;
• Present activities which will ultimately lead to a healthier Mississippi and aid in the elimination of health disparities;
• Provide activities for all physician disciplines and other health care providers including dentists, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and allied health care professionals at the local, state, regional and national level;
• Encourage multidisciplinary activities to provide knowledge and practice for all members of the health care team.

The UMMC CHPE supports the UMMC mission and vision through the variety of offerings and broad scope of life-long learning experiences provided.