We are thrilled to announce that Exam Essentials has been granted initial, provisional Continuing Medical Education (CME) accreditation by the New Mexico Medical Society. This accreditation allows us to develop educational activities for licensed healthcare providers and award CME credit to participants.
This milestone represents more than a year of work developing policies, educational processes, and quality improvement systems to meet accreditation standards.
Our accreditation comes at a critical time. Across the country, many healthcare training programs are reducing or eliminating opportunities for learners to practice sensitive examinations in person. Some programs have moved entirely online, while others face financial and staffing challenges that limit hands-on instruction.
As in-person opportunities become less common, the need for high-quality, patient-centered training grows.
Recently, conversations with healthcare educators highlighted a challenge we’re hearing more frequently: some newly graduated clinicians enter practice having had limited (or no) opportunities to perform genital examinations in a supervised educational setting. Even those who have received training often welcome additional practice and feedback before incorporating these skills into patient care.
The need isn’t limited to new clinicians. Exam Essentials’ first client was a program run by a Doctor of Nursing Practice. She was preparing for a role that required these examinations after years without performing them. She wanted an opportunity to refresh her skills before her first patient encounter.
CME accreditation also allows us to build educational experiences specifically for practicing clinicians like these folks. In addition to foundational examination skills, future activities may address topics such as examinations on larger bodies, care after hysterectomy and vaginal cuff assessment, advanced trauma-informed approaches, mobility accommodations, and other situations that benefit from focused, hands-on practice.
Development of our first CME activity is already underway, and we’re looking forward to working closely with the New Mexico Medical Society to ensure it meets accreditation requirements and educational best practices.
We’re excited to take this next step in expanding access to patient-centered, trauma-informed education for healthcare professionals throughout the Southwest. While the last year was spent working towards this accreditation goal, the process could not have been accomplished without the prior years of curriculum development, instructor training, program evaluation, and collaboration with educators and clinicians.
We are deeply grateful to our Sensitive Exam Teaching Associates, advisors, collaborating educators, learners, and the professionals at the New Mexico Medical Society. Their guidance, feedback, and belief in our mission have been instrumental in bringing us to this moment.
We hope to offer our first CME activity in Albuquerque in Fall 2026 and look forward to sharing more details in the months ahead. Stay tuned!