PracticalCME Medical Training has been offering Accredited, Small-Group Training courses in both aesthetic and wellness services since 2008.
PracticalCME is the only training company that is wholly MD-owned and operated where all teaching faculty are experienced MD’s in the fields of aesthetics and wellness services.
PracticalCME offers training in Botox, Fillers, PRP, Microneedling, Sclerotherapy, PDO Threads, and wellness services such as Saliva Testing with Bio-Identical Hormones, Evidence-Based Weight Loss including GLP-1 shots, and even Neurotransmitter and GI Leaky Gut Testing. Since 2014, PracticalCME has used blended learning in which the attendee first watches a CME-accredited online presentation of the material which can be watched at your own pace. Then, if a live date is reserved, the attendee visits one of 11 hands-on sites around the country where the hands-on faculty member conducts a review of the important treatment considerations prior to doing supervised one-on-one hands-on with each attendee.
The strengths of PracticalCME lie in it’s all MD Faculty, guaranteed small class sizes and guaranteed product for hands-on that is included in the tuition fee. Paid models are not used and all classes (both online and live hands-on) award CME accredited certification that works for MD’s, DO’s, PA’s, NP’s, and RN’s in all 50 states.
The weaknesses of PracticalCME are found in it’s relatively small internet presence, limited social media hype and dependence on a text-heavy web interface. Others say that the courses can be long and include too much detail, requiring attendees to reserve their seat at least a week in advance of the live date in order to have enough time to complete the online material prior to the live hands-on session. Each city only has 4-6 slots and classes may only be offered 4 times per year, so seats are few and classes often sell out. Some classes like sclerotherapy and PDO threads are now only available as online courses since demand is too low to offer hands-on dates which meet their educational standards. All wellness courses are now fully online.
Attendees praise the accessibility of the faculty members. All students receive the contact information of the medical director, Gregory Zengo, MD and their hands-on faculty immediately upon registration. Access to the online materials is good for 2 years after registration and includes free updates when released.
Multi-Point Review of PracticalCME Botox Training
Each Category shall receive a weighted score depending on how well the training meets the standard.
Total Score: 48 out of 50 Points.
1. CME Accreditation for MD, DO, NP, PA, RN’s (Score 10 out of 10)
They have “CME” in their name for a reason. All courses are fully accredited for credit and accepted as AMA Cat. 1 for MD’s and DO’s in addition to AANP and AANC acceptance. Certificates are granted for both the online portion and the hands-on with the hands-on portion clearly stating that it was a live hands-on course for maximum clarity when seeking medmal insurance coverage.
2. Faculty Qualifications and Transparency (Score 10 out of 10)
PracticalCME remains the only aesthetic and botox training provider who is an all-MD faculty and lists the name and bio of each faculty member on every course. Here is an example of the faculty involved in courses in the Charlotte, NC area. (See the “Meet Your All-MD Faculty” tab dropdown item). Locations are always listed for each course for full transparency as well.
All faculty have full medical licenses in the states where they are teaching, unlike most other training course providers who fly their faculty to states they do not hold licenses for teaching.
3. Completeness of the First Level Course. (Score 9 out of 10)
It is difficult enough to calculate the cost of training when factoring in your time commitment and travel. However, when training is incomplete, or you have to purchase additional levels of courses just to treat most patients, then your training can end up costing double what it should.
The standard here is to teach everything that is FDA-cleared and off-label indications that work in the level 1 course. PracticalCME does not offer any “advanced” or “Level 2 and 3” courses. They intend for their introductory courses to be complete and teach every new provider the skills that 90% of patients want and have a greater than 90% success rate since it is these “bread and butter” procedures that build trust and a good reputation in the community. Doing fringe applications that have unpredictable results can hamper a new provider from growing a practice in the community.
While PracticalCME has the most complete courses out there, their filler course is light on using filler on the cheekbones and undereye area, because even though it is FDA-approved, these indications have universally poor results and are not taught by PracticalCME at any level.
4. Transparency Regarding Hands-On Product Provided in Tuition Cost. (Score 5 out of 5)
The industry standard is to provide a certain amount of toxin and filler for hands-on use UP FRONT and include it in the tuition price. PracticalCME includes 20u Botulinum Toxin and 1cc Hyaluronic acid dermal filler in the tuition cost for each hands-on training. They guarantee hands-on in microneedling of the face and all office-based courses also guarantee PRP hands-on using spun blood. Moreover, all hands-on is performed one-on-one fully supervised by the MD instructor. Additional product for hands-on use can be purchased if an attendee wants more supervised experience.
5. Maximum Hands-On Class Size (5 out of 5)
The standard for a training course should be a cap of around 5-6 providers per instructor for the best hands-on treatment experience. PCME courses average 3-4 attendees with a cap of 5-6 per class. This allows for time for live review of the online material, Q&A, and supervised hands-on.
6. Location Transparency (Score 3 out of 3)
Locations are either hotels or the offices of the hands-on faculty member. All street addresses are listed on the website for all to see. No secrets.
7. No Fake Boards, Fake Society, or Membership Upsells (Score 5 out of 5)
PracticalCME has never offered memberships or any kind of fake board certification.
8. Offers a Blended Online plus Live Learning Environment (Score 5 out of 5)
PracticalCME pioneered the use of streaming blended online plus live accredited training courses in 2014 and offered the first fully online training in 2010 on DVDs. Both the online and live portions are independently accredited as a blended learning activity.
9. No Risk of Paid Models at the Live Training (Score: 2 of 2)
PracticalCME never accepts volunteer models from the community due to the medico-legal risks
10. General Truthfulness and Accessibility (Score: 5 of 5)
A thorough internet search reveals no bad reviews of PracticalCME, no BBB complaints and no negative entries at any other website despite being in business for over 16 continuous years. PracticalCME gives out contacts of faculty to registrants upon registration and prides itself for covering everything in the detailed, posted outline of the course every time the course is taught.
In its over 16 years in business, PracticalCME has never cancelled or “no-showed” for a course, even if only one attendee is booked for any given date.
While other training programs collect thousands of dollars in tuition in exchange for a “promise” of giving a class on a future date, PracticalCME gives the complete accredited streaming training to begin watching immediately upon registration.
Final Score: 48 out of a possible 50
Final Recommendation… If you want to launch a career in aesthetic or wellness services, this is the place to get your foundation.
