OU-COM AHEC -- Continuing Professional Development

The Area Health Education Center (AHEC)/Consortium for Health Education in Appalachia Ohio (CHEAO) sponsors continuing professional education programs for health care providers in collaboration with hospitals, health care agencies and professional associations within the 21 county region. CHEAO is an approved provider of continuing education programs for nurses and serves as the CME office for the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Continuing professional education credit is also applied for appropriate programs for counselors, social workers, dietitians, and occasionally for nursing home administrators and physical therapists.

Many programs are planned in response to specific requests from the local medical or nursing community who have come to rely on CHEAO programs to meet requirements for renewal of their professional licenses. Grant funding allows CHEAO to offer quality programs at a lower fee and often at locations that are closer to their facility than other continuing professional education programs. CHEAO maintains the standards of accreditation established by the American Osteopathic Association and the Ohio Nurses Association.

Through the OU-COM videoconferencing network continuing education programs can be provided to many distant sites. CHEAO coprovides two videoconference seminar series one on case-based behavioral pediatric topics and one on geriatric topics. The behavioral pediatric seminar series is coordinated by the Southern Consortium for Children. The geriatric seminar series is coordinated by the Geriatric Education Center within the OU-COM Department of Geriatric Medicine/Gerontology, a consortium site for the Western Reserve Geriatric Education Center.

CHEAO also hosts nationally broadcast satellite programs such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization updates, tuberculosis management, and grief.

For more information, contact