Medical Specialists / Professional Development
Notes on CPD
What is CPD?
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is based on an analysis of medical specialists’ educational needs and goals. It is designed to facilitate the acquisition and ongoing application of knowledge and skills in various areas; its ultimate goal is a consistent improvement in patient care.
All physicians are personally responsible for continuing their professional development, within a clearly-defined environment. The CPD framework is, of course, academic and scientific, but legal and political concepts also play an essential role in guiding and supporting physicians.
The Medical Code of Ethics requires that physicians maintain their levels of competence, and these are verified by the Collège des médecins du Québec, the regulatory body that issues licenses to practice. The Collège answers to the Office des professions du Québec which, in turn, reports to government. While continuing professional development may be a personal matter, it nonetheless encompasses an intrinsic series of agencies and regulations that set standards and rules of ethics and suggests approaches, and have the right to oversee or, in certain cases, establish specific requirements in case of default.
The social contract between medicine and society as a whole requires that physicians maintain their levels of competence and their professional development. That, in fact, is the essence of professional development.
You will find information on CPD under the various headings shown, as well as details of our structures and committees, criteria, applicable standards and rules of ethics, related links, a variety of documentary sources, and assessment and management tools.
A Look Back
In the 1960’s, the “unconditional and unlimited” nature of the right to practice medicine was the subject of fierce debate in the United States. The question was also hotly contested in Québec and the rest of Canada, except that, unlike the States, the Act respecting the Professions already contained provisions regarding continuing education. As this traditionally tended to be a voluntary commitment, particularly in the case of medical specialists, the focus was placed more on establishing quality standards and determining and defining methods and criteria to assess the relevance of the educational activities that should be made available.
This was the situation in February 1974, when the FMSQ Board of Directors and the Delegates’ Assembly decided to create the very first group devoted solely to permanent medical education (now, CPD). Dr. Osman P. Gialloreto, a cardiologist, was assigned to set up a permanent office which, just a few months later, was to become the FMSQ’s Office de l’éducation permanente.
The creation of the Conseil d’enseignement médical swiftly followed. This advisory body was composed of representatives from the affiliated associations. Its mandate was to promote the exchange and sharing of information, document and analyze the various programs available and, if necessary, help associations to establish their own specific structures and programs.
During this same period, the Conseil d’éducation médicale continue du Québec (CEMCQ) was created – in great measure due to the impetus provided by the FMSQ. Composed of representatives from the professional order, the faculties of medicine, representatives of national medical associations and various other organizations within Quebec and the rest of Canada, the CEMCQ’s principal mandate was to define or issue recommendations concerning the rules, standards and codes of ethics that should govern educational activities.
In February 1984, Dr. Jean Vincelette, a microbiologist at Hôpital Saint-Luc in Montreal and a member of the FMSQ’s Office de formation médicale, was elected to preside over the CEMCQ, a position that he held for the next four years. In 1985, he succeeded Dr. Gialloreto as the Office’s Director. Dr. Vincelette also took on new duties as Director of Health Policies, a position that is still closely associated with the duties of the Office’s director today.
In 1986, following an initial visit by the Corporation professionnelle des médecins du Québec (today’s Collège des médecins), accreditation was granted for a period of four years. This crowned twelve years of endeavor to achieve a structured approach to continuing education. Subsequent accreditation visits in 1991 and 1995 further confirmed the validity and relevance of the FMSQ’s action some twenty years earlier.
In 1995, Dr. Michel Brazeau became Director of the Office, remaining in this position until June 1999 when he was replaced by Dr. Gilles Hudon, the current Director. It was during his term that the Office became known as the Office de développement professionnel.
The most recent accreditation visit by the Collège des médecins in February 2006 confirmed the excellence of the CPD activities available to by members of the affiliated associations. The Office de développement professionnel and 30 associations received unconditional accreditation for five years; the next visit is scheduled for 2011.
The FMSQ Conseil de développement professional continu
The Office de développement professionnel promotes the maintenance of competence and the professional development of medical specialists who are members of the associations affiliated with the FMSQ.
The Conseil de développement professionnel continu is a forum where those responsible for CPD in the affiliated associations share their experiences in organizing educational activities. It helps promote the quality and quantity of continuing educational programs designed for medical specialists. Each of the 34 affiliated associations sends a delegate from its professional development team to sit on the Conseil. Representatives from the Continuing Education Centre of each faculty of medicine, the Collège des médecins du Québec, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec and Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) are also members of the Conseil.
The Comité d’organisation et d’orientation
This Committee advises the Office de développement professionnel and its Director on planning activities and training facilitators. Committee members serve for a two-year term, which is renewable.
The members are:
- The Director, Office de développement professionnel (chair)
- The person responsible for the continuing professional development centres of the four faculties of medicine in Quebec (or a substitute):
- Université Laval
- McGill University
- Université de Montréal
- University of Sherbrooke
- A representative of the Collège des médecins du Québec
- The Director of Practice Enhancement;
- The Assistant Director of Practice Enhancement (substitute).
- A representative of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
- A representative of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec
- Two delegates from the FMSQ’s Conseil de développement professionnel
- Two members of affiliated associations with recognized competence in adult education, CPD, etc.
- A representative of Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D)
- Coordinator, Office de développement professionnel
- Other resource persons, as may required (no voting rights).
Accreditation process for the affiliated associations
Under the obligations and powers conferred on it by law, the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ) is responsible for the assessment of professional associations’ continuing medical education programs and the awarding of accreditation certificates.
The CMQ’s Comité d’admission à l’exercice ensures that physicians’ professional associations offer their members educational activities and tools that meet the various criteria in effect. This role is even more important in the case of the medical federations, since they are sometimes the only scientific group in Quebec practising in a given field.
Accreditation visits take place every five years – the most recent one was in February 2006. During these visits, the Federation’s president and secretary, together with the president and person responsible for CPD in each of the 34 specialties, the president and person responsible for CPD in the Société des médecins experts du Québec and the Director of the Office de développement professionnel give the CMQ’s visiting physicians details of the professional development activities organized for their members over the previous five-year period. They must demonstrate that they have fulfilled their CPD responsibilities, as required by the Collège.
Accreditation differs from a license to practice in that the latter is normally required by a government authority to certify that a person or organization has met a minimum standard. Accreditation focuses on strategies for continued improvement and the achievement of optimal quality standards rather than meeting minimum standards. An accreditation process is an essential requirement in many self-regulated professions and its goal is excellence rather than minimum compliance.
New standards issued by the Collège des médecins du Québec
CPD Ethics
