Continuing
Education for Health Professionals:
The Berkshire AHEC offers about forty continuing education
programs annually for health care professionals and
paraprofessionals throughout western Massachusetts. These programs
attract more than 3,500 individuals annually with more than 14,000
contact hours being awarded. Many programs are planned in
conjunction with other organizations. Task forces in nursing,
mental health, gerontology and pediatrics assist in identifying
educational needs and faculty. Although most programs are
geared to a multidisciplinary audience, some focus is placed on
specific specialties. Programs are planned for physicians, nurses,
dental professionals, social workers, radiologic technologists,
respiratory therapists, youth development and other allied health professionals.
Continuing
Medical Education
AHEC also offers several
different types of programs for practicing area physicians. These
programs are planned in cooperation with the Office of Medical
Education at Berkshire Medical Center.
- Legal and Ethical Considerations in
Medicine
: This conference presents the latest issues in
bioethics, quality control and practice management, and meets
the requirements of the Board of Registration in Medicine for
risk management and quality assurance education.
Nursing
and Allied Health Education
Formats vary from multi-day to half-day and feature a wide
range of local, regional and national faculty. Examples of major
programs include:
- The Berkshire
Conference on AIDS
:
Focusing on the prevention and treatment of AIDS in rural
communities, this conference is supported in part by the New
England AIDS Education and Training Center at the University of
Massachusetts Medical School and co-sponsored by the Berkshire
AIDS Coalition.
Other Conferences: Other
conferences are held on such diverse topics as holistic and
alternative health care, updates for dental hygienists, topics
in radiology, management of back pain, research in mental
health, etc.
Undergraduate
and Graduate Medical Education:
AHEC works closely with the medical education programs at
Berkshire Medical Center, a 360-bed teaching hospital affiliated
with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Support is
provided for special initiatives which strengthen the primary care
components of the teaching program at both the graduate and
undergraduate levels.
Health
and Human Service Coalitions:
Over the years, AHEC has developed and facilitated a health and human services
coalition in Northern Berkshire, and assisted county-wide coalitions in
child sexual abuse prevention and substance abuse prevention. It
is currently the lead agency for the Berkshire Coalition to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, supported by a grant from the Department
of Public Health. In implementing these coalition efforts,
AHEC's role has varied from active leadership and facilitation to
fiscal and grant management.
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