With the last two weeks of renewal upon us, I am very grateful to the members who have already met your continuing competence (CC) requirements and completed this important legislative process.

Due to our shortened year in 2019 and then the full credit requirement being granted for Covid-19 last year, this is the first year that we have all had to register our CC requirements in the two different categories; continuing education (CE) or self-directed (SD). Despite this structure being announced in 2018, we are now living in the full CC program as developed to meet our HPA requirements.

As a refresher, I want to share with you again the five basics of how this program works.

  • The program is built to ensure ongoing professional development by completing various learning activities. All of us are required to achieve 60 credits per year.
  • A minimum of 30 credits must come from CE activities. These credits are granted at 3 credits per 1 hour of study, or 3:1. This means that you must complete at minimum 10 hours of CE to meet this requirement. If you have taken a program of study that fits the requirements of the CE activities, you can enter that as well.
  • A maximum 30 credits can come from SD activities. These credits are granted at 1 credit per 1 hour of study, or 1:1. A list of examples of these self-directed activities is provided for reference on the College’s website and in the member portal, however, there is a wide variety of activities that could be applied to the SD category.
  • The program is built to allow for members’ self-reflection and individual pursuit of additional training and activities that help advance you as a healthcare provider. These are considered SD activities and they are worth one credit per hour because they are not pre-approved. Of course, if you do not wish to do any SD activities, you can do a full 20 hours (worth 60 credits) of CE activities to meet your total requirement.
  • Additional activities are sometimes required of members – these are required learnings. This year the required learning is the Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse and Misconduct training to meet new legislative requirements for all healthcare professionals. The training is worth 3 hours, or 9 credits of CE.

Click here for the complete program details.
Click here for the approved CE activities list.
Click here for the examples of SD activities.

I know there are those of you who are now facing the time crunch to get your competence requirements done and complete the renewal process. Keep in mind that there are a great many courses that are out there and available online. However, if you are taking a university or college level course or program, or any other program that fits the CE requirements, these also apply to your CE credits.

Last, while many of our members express themselves with the utmost level of professionalism, I need to issue a reminder that profanity and rudeness is not an acceptable way of expressing your frustration when you are speaking with a College staff member.

As Registrar, I am required to take a hard stance against this type of misconduct, especially in light of the new Standard of Practice 1.6 Communication. Our staff work diligently to help navigate you through the processes and structures that we’re required to have in place as the regulator of the profession. Please remember we’re here to work with you.

I believe that the CC Committee, Council, College staff and you, the members that participated in the CC Program consultation have developed a robust yet manageable process for meeting the legislated requirement of ongoing professional development. I also know that each additional year that we go through this process, it will become more streamlined as we continue to find ways to make improvements. As you work through the new CC structure, please feel free to reach out to us if you have questions.

Stay safe out there!

Sincerely,

Tim A. Ford
Registrar