StatPearls CME Review
CONTENTS
1. Overview2. Pros, Cons, Alternatives
3. Why StatPearls
4. Specialties
5. Features
6. Verdict
Is StatPearls good for CME? We'll help you decide in our new StatPearls CME review by showing you what's under the hood when you purchase.
StatPearls CME Overview
Key Purchasing Decision Points:
All articles are indexed in PubMed from the National Center for Biotechnology Information
Ongoing addition and updates to the already enormous library included with subscription
Unlimited category 1 CME credits
Online text-based self-assessment
Six months, one year, or lifetime options
$249 for a six month subscription or $349 for one year. Pay $2,499 one for lifetime CME
Lifetime subscription includes access to all board reviews and question banks
StatPearls CME Plans
Six Months: Unlimited CME credits for $249
Twelve Months: Unlimited CME credits for $349
StatPearls Founding Member Lifetime CME Plan
Pay $2,499 one time and unlock access to unlimited CME and unlimited updates for the rest of your career.
Pros
- Unlimited CME earning potential for life
- All articles indexed in the prestigious PubMed database
- Online, on-demand CME in any topic
- Never pay for CME again
Cons
- Limited media formats (eg, no audio/video components)
- No cash back or gift cards (but this makes it inherently more affordable)
A Resource for Free Medical Education, CME and Free CME
StatPearls is a massive online library of free, open access medical education (FOAMed). Despite the substantial size already, StatPearls is continuing to grow, with ongoing content updates and new content added almost daily.
While anyone can access the medical articles, as they are all indexed in PubMed, this review will focus on StatPearls’ CME activities and products.
StatPearls offers category 1 CME (or equivalent CE) for physicians, PAs, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and nurses. With a paid subscription, you’ll get access to all of the CME activities, board review questions, flash cards, and more. Their pricing is extremely affordable, and StatPearls also offers a generous amount of free CME activities.
One of their best CME offers is also one of the best values I’ve ever seen online. For $2,499, which is less than most standard CME allowances, you can get lifetime access to unlimited CME plus updates.
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty cool to use part of one year’s CME stipend for guaranteed CME for the rest of your career.
I have this StatPearls lifetime membership, and I will also continue to attend CME conferences and try other types of CME over the years. It’s great knowing that if I’m short a few credits at the end of the year, I have a useful source to fill in the gap at any time.
If that’s not for you, the subscription costs are just $249 for 6 months or $349 for a year. Any paid subscription gets you access to all 6,500+ CME activities for the duration of the plan. The lifetime subscription also gives you access to board reviews for…well, life.
StatPearls CME Specialties
StatPearls CME covers close to 200 specialties, and has tens of thousands of articles and activities from which you can claim CME credit. Most activities are of medium length, worth between 1.0 and 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1™ CME Credits.
You’ll find everything from internal medicine, radiology, and psychiatry to neurosurgery, spine surgery, aerospace medicine, wound care, and more. It's pretty amazing just how many sub-sub-sub specialties they cover, and how well they do it.
Features
In addition to high quality content and frequent content updates, StatPearls offers a few extra features.
Like most modern online CME platforms, there is a handy CME tracker that not only tracks your activities, but also graphs your completed activities and board reviews over time. Pretty cool.
From the dashboard, you can see the CME activities you’ve started (or finished), featured CME activities, and all CME activities related to your specialty.
Perhaps one of the most convenient features is the state-required CME activities right on the home dashboard. They make it so obvious even I couldn’t forget to do them.
You can also choose to allow automatic MOC reporting in your account settings, saving you some effort along the way.
Learning Formats
StatPearls is mostly text-based articles and self-study. This is great for motivated learners who like reading, but can be a challenge for those who are used to audio CME or the more interactive question banks or multimedia options.
To be clear, there is a self-assessment test following the reading. This consists of a series of multiple choice questions, usually 20 to 30 items in duration, so it is not completely text-based content. Another thing I love is that each question has a “message the editors” button, where you can send feedback directly to the editorial board if you have questions or disagreements with an item.
StatPearls CME Verdict
From a content and quality perspective, StatPearls is a fantastic option for anyone who needs to earn CME credits for their license.
If you have a CME fund or are willing to spend the money upfront, then the lifetime membership is an absolute banger of a deal. It’s also a bit of insurance against any adverse events your CME allowance may experience in the future.
Otherwise, StatPearls offers high-quality and affordable CME online that you can do whenever it’s convenient for you. And even if you don’t use it for CME, it makes for an excellent free medical reference tool as well.
Get your lifetime membership here.
Try out a six month or one year subscription starting at $249.
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