January 15, 1999

Continuing medical education courses continue to be rated by APA members as one of the annual meeting's most popular formats, and thus they fill up quickly. Prior to last year's meeting in Toronto, 30 percent of the spaces in the 100 courses were filled before the meeting began. Unfortunately, many refunds had to be made to participants who registered too late to enroll in their preferred courses.

"The Scientific Program Committee is sympathetic to those who were disappointed in the past," said Deborah Spitz, M.D., chair of the Subcommittee on Courses, "but the best possible advice we can offer is that participants should enroll as early as possible to ensure admission to the courses of their choice."

The 1999 annual meeting, which will be held May 15 to 20 in Washington, D.C., is expected to pose similar problems. As attendance at the annual meeting has continued to increase each year, the number of registrants who would like to enroll in the CME courses has increased correspondingly.

A total of 20 new courses and 77 updated courses have been scheduled for the Washington, D.C., meeting. Information about them appears in a special section beginning on page 9 and in the annual meeting registration packet being mailed to all APA members this month. Information also appears on APA's Web site by clicking on the annual meeting logo.

Courses provide an ideal opportunity for learning in small groups and include ample time for direct exchanges with course faculty. Larger courses also often include small-group discussions held in nearby breakout rooms, led by one of the faculty.

A small number of very large courses are offered, led by skilled course directors who are accustomed to speaking before large audiences. These courses may admit as many as 200 participants, but still are often sold out before the annual meeting begins.

Preenrollment for the CME courses is open to all annual meeting registrants. All registration and preenrollment forms must be received with payment before April 12. Requests will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

More information on the 1999 Annual Meeting