Tell Us What You Think – Really!
We promised to keep registrants informed of the changes being made to the Quality Practice program and to ask for your feedback during development. Your chance to tell us what you think is coming soon! Watch your email for a link to our registrant consultation survey the week of July 5 – you’ll have a month to read through the materials and answer the survey questions.
The Framework for the new Quality Practice program was designed in response to the feedback we received from registrants during consultations that took place in 2018 and 2019.
You told us:
- accountability for the quality of practice should be primarily the responsibility of the physical therapist, BUT that others should share in this responsibility including employers, supervisors, peers, professional associations, educators, and the regulatory college.
- the work environment plays a significant role in supporting your continuing competence.
- strategies you use to stay current in physical therapy practice include reading and learning, support from colleagues to solve clinical problems, and taking clinical courses.
- it is important that the QAP – now known as the Quality Practice program – be flexible and respect diversity in practice.
- the program should provide specific feedback to support ongoing good practice, guide improvements in practice, and facilitate the ongoing development of skills and competence.
- that regular input from registrants would increase the likelihood of registrant support for the program.
Overall, the new Framework is focused on risk-based, evidence-informed activities that will ensure, promote, and support practice quality. It outlines the purpose, guiding principles, and design features for the Quality Practice program. A PDF copy of the Framework is available for download.
Two of the proposed Elements of the Framework – Workplace Standards and Professional Development – are included in the survey. You’ve heard a bit about the Workplace Standards Element already (see below for an update) and in this e-Newsletter, we’ll tell you more about the proposed approach to the Professional Development Element.
In the registrant consultation survey you’ll receive during the week of July 5, we’ll ask you to provide your thoughts about several things including the following:
We will ask if you agree with the Framework’s new focus on supporting registrants to achieve and maintain a quality practice.
We will ask for your thoughts about what the College has proposed so far (the Workplace Standards and Professional Development Elements) and what else we should consider as we continue development.
Workplace Standards Element
We have now appointed the members of the Workplace Standards Advisory Committee. We received applications from 35 very qualified registrants to fill six registrant positions on the committee. Thank you to all who were interested! We are pleased to introduce you to these Committee members:
- Angelina Woof, Vancouver (Chair of the Committee, member of the QA Committee)
- Heather Branscombe, Abbotsford
- Carla Martin, Kamloops
- Michelle Pieke, Port McNeill
- Krishna Jayachandra Prasad, Delta
- Jennifer Slabodkin, Toronto (College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents)
- Floyde Spencer, Cranbrook
- Rebecca White, Prince George
Has the consultant for this Element been appointed?
Yes, we have hired Leanne Loranger as the consultant to guide discussion and lead the development process for Workplace Standards. Leanne holds a B.Sc. (Physical Therapy) from the University of Alberta, and a Master of Health Management from McMaster University. In addition to her consulting work, she has 19 years of clinical practice and is Manager of Policy and Practice at Physiotherapy Alberta. She has been involved with quality improvement initiatives and standards of practice, serves as a peer reviewer for Physiotherapy Education Accreditation Canada and is on the Board of Examiners for the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators.
What are the next steps for the development of the Workplace Standards?
- The committee has met once and has meetings scheduled in August and September.
- Results from the consultations survey will be reviewed to guide the work that this committee does. Revisions will be made based on your input.
- Proposed standards will be piloted in Fall 2021 (watch for our call for volunteers to pilot these!) and revisions will be made based on the data gathered during the pilot.
What do we think the Workplace Standards will look like?
The proposed Workplace Standards will fall into one of three broad categories:
- Indicators about the College’s Practice Standards – to ensure that you and your workplace(s) are aware of College regulations and expectations in such areas as clinical records management, documentation, supervision, telerehabilitation, infection prevention and control, confidentiality, privacy and security, and others.
- Indicators about the College Bylaws and Code of Ethical Conduct – focused on professionalism, professional responsibility, ethics, communication, and quality improvement.
- Indicators related to registrant health, wellness, and fitness to practice – focused on assisting you in identifying risks within your workplace environments that may lead to decreased engagement or eventual burnout, such as workplace culture, registrant engagement, and workplace engagement.
How will the College ask you to use these Workplace Standards?
Right now, you complete the Annual Self Report at registration renewal to help you reflect on potential risks and identify supports to your practice based on personal information you provide. The Workplace Standards Report will similarly help you reflect on risks and identify supports to your practice environment based on answers you provide about your workplace. The College will not have access to your individual responses – like the data you enter in the Annual Self Report, we will only see aggregated results.
Professional Development Element
Professional development is key in keeping current and enhancing the quality of your practice. While many regulatory colleges require registrants to complete mandatory continuing professional development credits over a number of years, we are proposing a different approach. We propose to allow for many other types of activities that we believe to be important contributors to practice quality.
These activities are meant to encourage self reflection on your competence, to assist your decision-making on professional development activities, and to promote the development of supports for individual and lifelong learning.
What do we propose to ask you each year?
We propose that Professional Development Element will include two types of professional development activities. You would be asked to complete two activities each year, one of each type.
The first type of activity would be selected by the College. It might be a particular educational module that must be completed during the year, such as a module on cultural safety and humility or anti-racism.
The second type of activity is something you choose. You told us in past consultations that you value and participate in activities every year that improve the quality of your practice. Each year you would choose one activity and report about it to the College.
What kinds of activity could you choose to report on?
You could choose an activity in one of the three categories below:
Knowledge acquisition / creation / translation: Formal or informal activity to seek and apply knowledge to practice (courses, conferences, webinars, reading or writing research papers, etc.)
Professional collaboration: A group activity that results in informal learning and helps the development of others (supervision of students, mentorship, participation in a professional interest group, volunteer activities with regulatory college, association, etc.)
External review / practice monitoring: An activity whereby professional practice and competence are evaluated by someone other than yourself (employer performance appraisal, a structured feedback session with a peer, chart audit, assessment that forms part of a certification or specialization process, etc.)
Notice that we will not be asking you to complete a formal course, necessarily. There would be many other options to choose from. What is important is for you to be able to describe how the activity you choose leads to sustained learning and improvement in your professional practice.
Consultation Survey
In the week of July 5, you will receive the link to the survey where you can tell us what you think of all this. The feedback we receive will help us as we refine the Quality Practice Framework and begin development of the Workplace Standards and the Professional Development Elements.
Will I receive updates about these Elements and the results of the consultations survey?
Yes! Watching for more issues of this Quality Practice e-Newsletter series delivered over this year as we keep you informed every step of the way.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at: qap@cptbc.org
Next Issue: September 2021
Stay tuned for Issue 4 of this Quality Practice e-Newsletter series arriving before the end of September. We’ll share the preliminary results of the Consultations Survey and describe how and when the Workplace Standards pilot will happen.
