About NRCME Trainers

The National Registry of Certified medical examiners is a federally mandated program that requires practitioners who wish to perform Department of Transportation physicals on commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers to take a training program every five years and successfully pass a test every ten years.

NRCME Trainers is an entirely online, self-paced educational program that exceeds the core requirements set forth by the FMCSA and takes approximately 8-10 hours to complete. After completing the course, medical examiners will not only be prepared to pass the NRCME examination test, but become an expert in the standards so they will be able to determine the status for even the most complex patients.

NRCME trainers program is accessible everywhere, whether you are on your laptop at home studying for your exam or on your smartphone in a couple of years when you need a quick reference.

NRCME Trainers is easy to use. There is no need for Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, or any video installations. There is no webinar you have to schedule or video that takes forever to fast forward or rewind. All material is succinct and there is no limit on how many times you need to review the material.

NRCME Trainers is available for 5 years, right up until it’s time to recertify.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of NRCME Trainers and ScientiaCME. ScientiaCME is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation: ScientiaCME designate this educational activity for a maximum of 8.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Release Date: February 26, 2014
Expiration Date: February 26, 2032

Title of Program: The DOT-NRCME Medical Examiner Training Program by NRCME Trainers LLC

Type of activity: Online Self-Paced Learning Program

Target Audience: Medical Examiners who perform driver medical exam: advanced practice nurse, doctor of chiropractic, doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, physician assistant, or other medical professional authorized by applicable state laws and regulations to perform physical examinations.

Professional Practice Gap: Congress enacted the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A legacy for users (SAFETEA-LU), which authorized the Federal Motor Carriers Safety administration (FMCSA) to establish the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (49 US Code 31149) on April 20, 2012.

Beginning May 21, 2014, all medical certificates issued to interstate truck and bus drivers must come from a medical examiner listed on the National Registry.

NRCME Trainers Online Training Program Learning Objectives:

1. Recall the background, rationale, and mission of the FMCSA in establishing the medical examiner’s role to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles
2. Describe the responsibilities and work environment of a commercial motor vehicle driver
3. Identify the CMV driver's identity. Obtain, review and properly document patient history, and medication use, including prescription and over-the-counter medications.
   *Identify side effects, monitoring and compliance of medicine
4. Perform driver’s physical examination, interpret diagnostic tests eg. urinalysis and properly document findings.
5. Order or request additional diagnostic tests or medical opinions, as deemed necessary and document referral.
6. Inform and educate the driver about contingencies of qualifying condition, possible consequences of non-compliance of medications and appropriate follow-up with private clinician.
7. Determine driver certification outcome and discuss period for which certification is valid
8. Comply with FMCSA reporting and documentation requirements

The objectives of the National Registry Program are:

• Improve highway safety
• Ensure medical examiners understand FMCSA medical standards and guideline and how they apply to interstate CMV drivers
• Maintain training and testing program for medical examiners
• Promote public confidence in the quality of the medical examiners who certify CMV drivers
• Establish an outline list of certified medical examiners

FMCSA performed an extensive study to identify the critical knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform CMV driver physical examinations in accordance with current FMCSA regulations and advisory criteria. Literature Review, direct observations, national survey and medical examiner expert Working Integrated Product Team (WIPT) meetings were methods used to develop a blueprint for the FMCSA Medical Examiner Certification test. The development of the eight core curriculum specifications for the initial medical examiner training will be provided by private sector training organizations.

The need for this training is required because specialized knowledge of CMV drivers is not incorporated into the healthcare practitioner education and licensure requirements. Moreover, a professional practice gap is present. Although healthcare practitioners may have knowledge of diagnosing and treating a disease state, there is a need for further education on developing a standard of certification once a diagnosis is established from either history or physical. This is a performance gap that this CME activity will fulfill. This medical examiner training builds on the practitioner’s clinical knowledge and applies it to the fitness for duty determination for CMV drivers

Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI: As a provider of continuing medical education, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all of its educational activities. In accordance with this policy, faculty and educational planners must disclose any significant relationships with commercial interests whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, and any relationships with the commercial supporter of the activity. The intent of this disclosure is to provide the intended audience with information on which they can make their own judgments. Additionally, in the event a conflict of interest (COI) does exist, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure that the COI is resolved in order to ensure the integrity of the CME activity. For this CME activity, any COI has been resolved thru content review ScientiaCME.

Faculty Disclosure: Carissa Romano PA-C MPAS has no relevant financial disclosures.

Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is not supported by any commercial support.

Authors/Faculty: Carissa Romano PA-C, MPAS, Course Director

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