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Philadelphia, PA – Excalibur Medical Education (Excalibur) along with our accredited partners at Global Education Group (Global) are pleased to announce that they have been awarded the National Association of Medical Education Companies (NAMEC) 18^th Annual Best Practice Award in Innovative Educational Methods for our activity entitled, “Rheumatology Escape Room: Improving the Day to Day Management of Patients with Rheumatic Disease.” This award was received during the 2023 Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions annual conference in National Harbor, MD.

This accredited CE activity—modeled after an in-person escape room—covers three diverse rheumatology cases, offering learners a series of diagnostic and treatment-related challenges in a rich, immersive online environment. The activity can be accessed by going to https://learning.freecme.com/a/40047PF5znP. This initial escape room was supported by educational grants from Novartis and Pfizer.

To develop this educational activity, Excalibur worked with the graphic design team at infograph-ed. This activity was also recently awarded a Gold Award in the Medical Education category of the Fall 2022 Digital Health Awards.

“There are a lot of challenges to doing this kind of thing right,” said Audrie Tornow, Managing Partner at Excalibur Medical Education. “You need to come up with an architecture that isn't gimmicky and ignores the fact that this is supposed to be education. You need to find faculty who understand what you are trying to do and won't simply try to pooh-pooh the concept. You need to find technology partners who share your vision and show patience as you work through some of the upfront growing pains. To do all of this well takes time, which is not something we always have a luxury of being provided with in the CME world. Fortunately, for this activity, everything aligned to allow us to work through the conceptual and technological challenges to make this concept a reality.”

“It is so rewarding to see a newly developed format come together with a partner who gets the vision and can immediately see the application for their learner community. This award recognition is testament to the subject matter experts having clarity of objectives and content and our scientific designers’ ability to transform this visually and so impactfully in this more gamified activity.” said Karen Roy, CEO & CoFounder, Infograph-ed LLC

“It’s always exciting to see new ideas come to fruition.” said Andrea Funk, General Manager, Global Education Group. “The continuing education space continues to become competitive as many educators and providers vie for learner time and attention.”

For more information about this activity, as well as other innovative Excalibur education, please contact Audrie Tornow, CHCP, FACEHP, at audrie@excaliburmeded.com.

To learn more about Global, please visit https://globaleducationgroup.com/

To learn more about infograph-ed, please visit https://www.infograph-ed.com/

To learn more about NAMEC, please visit https://www.namec-assn.org/

About Excalibur Medical Education

Excalibur Medical Education (Excalibur) is a multi-award winning, independent, full-service medical education company that specializes in the development and execution of contemporary, high-quality continuing education for healthcare professionals. Our creative bent drives us to take the “tried and true” and give it a new twist to help maintain learner engagement and accelerate educational impact.

By presenting the latest evidence-based medical data through a variety of engaging, visually-oriented formats, Excalibur seeks to positively impact patient outcomes and support the scholastic journey of healthcare providers across a variety of specialties with evidence-based educational content. We work with numerous association, patient advocacy, and claims partners to help gather quantitative and qualitative data to assess the impact of our education.

Visit us at www.excaliburmeded.com.

One of the key performance indicators of a successful partnership is mutual support. Support comes in various forms such as collaborative brainstorming, leaning on each other’s strengths, and the occasional nudge, “Hey, when are you going to publish your next lifestyle post?”

Thanks Scott.

So in that spirit, let’s talk about something that has been swirling in my mind since my family went on spring break. Kawaii. (No, not Hawaii or even Kauai. Kawaii.)

April 2022 found our family in Disney World, and one afternoon I took refuge in Japan’s museum, part of Epcot’s World Showcase. I’m always up for learning something new, but here I was face to face with an entire exhibit about the culture of cuteness. Cuteness is a culture? I must have been absent that day in school, because this was the first time I had ever heard about it.

“Roughly translated as ‘cuteness,’ kawaii is one of the most frequently used Japanese words. In a broader sense, it describes the culture of celebrating all things adorable and embracing fictional characters as the embodiment of positivity. Originating as a distinctly Japanese cultural trend, the concept soon evolved into the worldwide phenomenon it is today, spreading through many aspects of modern life, including art, fashion, technology, and even food.”

As defined by Wikipedia, the word kawaii originally derives from the phrase kao hayushi, which literally means “(one's) face (is) aglow.” Perhaps you can gain this facial glow from the sun while laying out on the beaches of Hawaii (or Kauai) and taking in the stunning landscapes. However, kawaii is focused on items that produce happy and positive feelings as well as an openness to incorporating them into your world.

For a long time, I’ve seen store shelves filled with Hello Kitty and other small trinkets and wondered about the sales volume of these items. Do people over the age of 6 really buy a lot of this? The simple answer is yes. Different from the incorporation of glitter (Scott really loves when I can work glitter into my posts), cuteness doesn’t have to sparkle. More often, it takes the form of bright eyes, pastel colors, and animal faces.

Goodbye sandwich-in-a-brown-paper-bag. Hello kawaii-inspired bento boxes for lunch. Now, don’t get me wrong, I took great pride in packing lunches when my kids were little. I tried to think about all the food groups and being colorful. But I never quite took it to the level of cuteness that some Kawaii lovers implement. Get over to Instagram and give @littlemissbento a look. My mind is blown away by the cuteness, creativity, and time put into these designs. And I have to admit that I would suffer from a depletion of happiness by biting down into one of these adorable creations.

Can I dress in a kawaii style? Oh, yes I can! Kawaii influence in fashion means an infusion of ruffles and bows sometimes taking on anime character flare. While I’m not confident enough to sport some of these strong doll-like looks to the next Alliance meeting, it makes me smile to see the whimsy and playfulness that can be had when dressing. Kinda puts your professional mullet (business shirt paired with pajama bottoms) to shame.

How about kawaii correspondence? You bet!! Try it in your emails because, yes, there are kawaii emoji keyboards accessible on your phone and computer. (Try holding down the Windows key, then type a semicolon if you are a PC user) (?´?`?).

I like the idea of incorporating joy and happiness into my day. I’m not quite sure why more of us don’t. Maybe you just needed a little nudge too. Well, here it is. You have permission to kawaii your office or home to the gills. Don’t be fearful, you can still be functional and professional, as well as cute, bright, and happy. Think about the things that give your face a glow and get them into a prominent place where you see them. What’s my next kawaii addition? A super cute frame to put around that picture of us on spring break. What’s yours?

We first met in 1993, way back when we were both sleeker, shinier, and, yes, a lot less mature. I first saw you in this newfangled business called a “coffee shop.” This particular coffee shop was called The Coffee Cave, located on Marshall Street just off the Syracuse University campus (some younger people might find this hard to believe, but a coffee shop in the sense that we know it today -- think of people holing up with their laptops all day -- didn’t exist until the early 1990s).

I often stopped into The Coffee Cave in the mornings between classes to get that needed jolt of energy and to relax for a few minutes. I don’t exactly remember the first morning when you caught my eye, but I do recall checking you out from time to time. And then one day I decided I’d have the courage to bring you home with me.

You were my daily campus companion, accompanying me to classes and study sessions and whatever else I had going on. I rarely left home without you by my side, and on the days when you stayed behind, I often found myself wondering where you were.

When my college days ended, you came along with me as I crisscrossed the country bouncing from job to job. Some days you came along with me to spend time in the newsroom. On other days, you tagged along as I went out to report on whatever story I was covering that day. There were a few times – maybe one or two – where I accidently left you behind on a bench in the park or on a table at the library, but you were always there waiting for me when I turned around to find you. You never judged me on those days when we were almost separated for good – you must have known how important you were to me.

When I got married and then when we had our son, I made sure you still had a key role in my life. You greeted me in the kitchen every morning, giving me the energy to tackle the day. You were always the first thing I looked for when I came downstairs, and you never let me down.

We’ve been together now for almost 30 years – I’ve probably seen you on more days than anyone (or anything) in my life. It’s been a great run, but let’s face it, we’re both getting older (OK, let’s just say we’re both “seasoned”). I have a whole kitchen full of newer, sleeker options, and after 30 years, I think it’s time to give some of them a chance. You were great when I had you in the car or on the bus as you helped kept me neat and tidy, but now, I’m only taking you up two flights of stairs, and I’m not really an accident-prone kind of person.

This isn’t exactly farewell – maybe you’ll still join me from time to time for the sake of nostalgia – but I think this is really for the best. So goodbye old friend – I’ll miss you.