Principle

The Office of Professional & Educational Development (OPED), Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University (Memorial) is an accredited provider of continuing professional development (CPD) and faculty development that targets the needs and competency development of faculty and health professionals within Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond. OPED is an accredited provider of university CPD by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) and the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC).

Accredited CPD activities include educational events that meet the administrative, educational and ethical standards of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program, College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Mainpro+ Certification program, Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Guidelines for Interacting with Industry, and National Standard for Support of Accredited CPD Activities. OPED complies with all criteria of the MOC and MainPro+ programs and individuals and groups involved in the design, development, and dissemination of CPD programming are advised to review these criteria.

Purpose

To define a centralized and streamlined process for the coordination and accreditation of CPD programs offered by the FoM to physicians, other faculty members and healthcare providers.

To clarify the role of faculty members involved in CPD activities, including disclosure and conflict of interest, while ensuring the delivery of high-quality programming.

Scope

All individuals in the Faculty of Medicine who are involved in organizing, planning, designing, delivering and evaluating accredited CPD activities.

Definitions

Accredited CPD Activity — An educational event that meets the administrative, educational and ethical standards of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program and the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Mainpro+ Certification program. Accredited CPD activities include group learning, self-learning and assessment, in a live or electronic format.

Author — The developer of content within eLearning modules, abstracts, posters, presentation slides or any other written or visual materials provided to participants of an accredited CPD activity.

Conflict of Interest — A conflict of interest exists in any situation where there is a potential divergence between personal interests and obligations to the University such that an independent observer would reasonably question whether the behavior or decisions are in any way motivated by considerations of personal interest, financial or otherwise. A conflict of interest may be real, perceived or potential.

This includes a set of conditions in which judgement or decisions concerning a primary interest (e.g., a patient's welfare, the validity of research and/or quality of medical education) is unduly influenced by a secondary interest (e.g., personal or organizational benefit including financial gain, academic or career advancement, or other benefits to family, friends, or colleagues).

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) — An array of educational activities that health professionals  undertake to maintain, develop, and enhance the knowledge,  skills, professional performance, and relationships they use to  provide care for patients, the public, and the profession.

Health Care/Pharmaceutical Industry (HPI) ( Commercial Interest) — For-profit entities that develop, produce, market, resell, or distribute drugs, devices, products, or other health care goods, services, or therapies that may be prescribed to patients or ordered by doctors in the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, management, or palliation of health conditions.

Learning Objective — Statements that are based on the identified needs of the target audience, and indicate what a participant will be able to know or do following an educational event.

Office of Professional and Educational Development (OPED) — An accredited provider of university Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for healthcare professionals. As a service unit within the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University, the office also supports the professional development of faculty and physicians within Newfoundland and Labrador.

Physician Organization(s) — Defined by the National Standard for Support of Accredited CPD Activities as a not-for-profit group of health professionals with a formal governance structure, accountable to and serving, among others, its physician members through continuing professional development, provision of health care and/or research.

Scientific Planning Committee (SPC) — A group of target audience representatives responsible for identifying the educational needs of the intended target audience; developing educational objectives; selecting educational methods; selecting scientific planning committee members, speakers, moderators, facilitators and/or authors; developing and delivering content; and evaluating the outcomes of an accredited CPD activity.

Sponsor — An individual, group, corporation or organization (for-profit and not for-profit) who provides financial or in-kind support, including goods or services in support of accredited educational activities, learning resources, or tools.

Sponsorship — The process by which an individual, group, corporation or organization provides financial and in-kind support for the development, delivery or evaluation of an accredited CPD activity, learning resource or tool.

Policy

1.0 Scientific Planning Committee (SPC)

1.1 Every accredited CPD activity must have a scientific planning committee (SPC), comprising a minimum of two (2) members, that includes the specific group of physicians, specialists or other healthcare professionals for whom the CPD activity will be aimed.

1.2 SPC membership must adhere to respective requirements set out by the CFPC and RCPSC as applicable.

1.3 The SPC must maintain control of decision-making related to the following CPD program elements:

a) Identification of the educational needs of the intended target audience;

b) Development of learning objectives;

c) Selection of educational methods;

d) Selection of speakers, moderators, facilitators and authors;

e) Development and delivery of content; and

f) Evaluation of outcomes.

1.4 Representatives of a sponsor, or any organization hired by a sponsor shall not:

1.4.1 act as educators or presenters;

1.4.2 participate in or attend SPC meetings for accredited CPD activities; and /or

1.4.3 have any role whatsoever in the program’s content development.

1.5 Where possible, being representative of all forms of diversity is supported as a factor in the selection of SPC members and of speakers, moderators, facilitators, and/or authors to represent the target audience, including rural and urban family physicians and/specialists. Representation in terms of the nature of the topic and patient involvement is included, where possible.

2.0 Co-Development of CPD Activities

2.1 OPED may co-develop accredited CPD activities with Physician Organizations.

2.2 OPED may co-develop accredited CPD activities with a non-physician organization to develop, plan and implement an accredited/certified educational activity.

2.3 In cases where an activity receives financial support from either for-profit or non-profit organizations, OPED and the SPC is responsible for receiving and distributing financial and in-kind support. OPED would also be responsible for the payment of honoraria, travel, lodging and meal expenses for faculty presenting at an accredited activity.

2.4 In co-development arrangements, OPED will retain authority over all decisions related to the activity, and will ensure that administrative, educational and ethical accreditation standards are met.

2.5 For all co-developed CPD activities, a minimum of four (4) month notice prior to the planned activity is required.

3.0 Conflict of Interest Disclosure

3.1 All members of SPC, speakers, moderators, facilitators and authors must complete the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form noting all relationships with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations over the previous two (2) years including, but not limited to, the following situations:

a) Direct financial payments including receipt of honoraria;

b) Membership on advisory boards or speakers’ bureaus;

c) Funded grants or clinical trials;

d) Patents on a drug, product or device; and

e) Other investments or relationships that could be seen by a reasonable, well-informed participant as having the potential to influence the content of the educational activity.

3.2 The SPC is responsible to review all disclosed financial relationships of speakers, moderators, facilitators and authors in advance or during the CPD activity to determine whether action is required to mitigate real, perceived or potential conflicts of interest.

3.3 All members of the SPC, speakers, moderators, facilitators, and authors, must disclose to participants any real, perceived or potential conflicts of interests (both verbally and in writing) using a template provided by OPED. If slides will not be used, disclosures must be included in written program materials as applicable.

3.3.1 In the case of online or virtual CPD, these disclosures and any mitigation should be made to the learners at the beginning of online courses.

3.3.2 Any individual who fails to disclose their relationships cannot participate as a member of the SPC, speaker, moderator, facilitator or author of an accredited CPD activity.

3.4 Conflict of interest disclosure forms will be retained by OPED for a period of two (2) years following accreditation expiry.

3.5 Faculty and presenters must understand and comply with the CMA’s Guidelines for Physicians in Interactions with Industry.

4.0 Needs Assessment

4.1 Each accredited CPD activity must be planned to address the identified needs of the target audience.

4.2 A needs assessment of the target audience must be performed to identify areas of knowledge, skills, performance and/or health outcomes that the CPD activity intends to address or improve.

4.3 The needs assessments should consider the CanMEDS and/or CanMEDS–Family Medicine competencies framework and be used to inform:

a) Development of learning objectives;

b) Identification of appropriate educational or delivery methods;

c) Selection of relevant educational content; and

d) Development of evaluation strategies.

4.4 To be eligible for Mainpro+ certification, all programs must be relevant to the overall practice of family medicine. Relevance is determined by assessing whether the program:

a) Fosters improved patient care by family physicians;

b) Addresses at least one of the Four Principles of Family Medicine;

c) Is within the scope of practice for family physicians; and

d) Has content and concepts that are evidence-based and/or generally accepted by the Canadian medical community.

5.0 Course Requirements and Presentation Materials

5.1 Branding (i.e., logos and company or product colours) must not be included in content presented during accredited CPD activities (i.e., handouts, PowerPoint slides, virtual platforms, email communications).

5.2 Product-specific advertising, promotional materials or branding strategies cannot be associated with:

• Educational materials, slides, abstracts and handouts used as part of an accredited CPD activity;

Activity agendas, programs or calendars of events (preliminary and final); or

• Webpages or electronic media containing educational material.

5.3 Speakers, moderators, facilitators, and authors are responsible for ensuring that presentations and education materials are balanced and reflect current scientific literature. An exception exists for situations when there is only one treatment or management strategy.

5.4 Unapproved uses of products or services must be declared in the presentation and education materials.

6.0 Program Design

6.1 The SPC must have mechanisms in place to address the identified educational needs of the intended target audience. A process must be in place to ensure that those responsible for developing or delivering content are informed about:

a) The identified needs of the target audience;

b) The need to ensure that the content and/or materials presented provide (where applicable) a balanced view across all relevant options related to the content area;

c) The intended learning objectives for the activity; and

d) Ensure that the description of therapeutic options utilize generic names (or both generic and trade names) and not reflect exclusivity and branding.

6.2 The SPC must ensure that the selected educational methods and delivery are consistent with the identified need(s), stated learning objectives and incorporate a variety of learning formats.

6.3 A minimum of twenty-five (25) per cent of the total education time must be allocated for interactive learning.

6.4 Specific interests of any sponsor must have no direct or indirect influence on the content and/or materials of an accredited CPD activity.

6.5 Learning objectives that address the identified needs of the target audience must be created for the overall CPD activity and each individual session, and must be incorporated into the evaluation strategy.

6.5.1 The learning objectives must be printed on the program, brochure and/or handout materials.

6.5.2 The identified learning needs of the target audience should be utilized in the creation/development of the learning objectives.

6.5.3 Learning objectives must clearly describe the intent of the CPD activity, be written from the perspective of the learner, and express the expected outcomes determined by the SPC and faculty.

7.0 Web-Based Learning

7.1 Web-based activities are generally assessed against all other criteria outlined in this document as well as other specific requirements outlined for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and Mainpro+ Certification programs.

7.2 Self-learning activities must include opportunities for learners to interact with the course material and with a faculty member or facilitator.

7.3 For a live or asynchronous group learning activity there must be a means for the participants to interact with the material, with each other, and with faculty members or a facilitator.

7.3 Participants must be able to track their progress, provide evaluation feedback, register and receive a record of registration for all online or virtual CPD activities.

7.4 Online programs must be offered within a definitive period of time communicated prior to the start of the program.

7.5 The number of assigned credits is based on a best estimate of the time required to complete the CPD program.

8.0 Completion of CPD Activity

8.1 Evaluation is a mandatory component of accredited CPD activities. Participants in all accredited CPD activities are provided with an opportunity to evaluate individual sessions and overall CPD activities.

8.2 All speakers and presenters are provided a summary of the evaluations.

8.3 OPED maintains participation records and OPED provides each participant in an accredited CPD activity with a letter or certificate of participation upon completion.

Related Documents

Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC)

Conflict of Interest Policy- Memorial

Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME)

Mainpro+ Certification

Maintenance of Certification (MOC)

National Standard for Support of Accredited CPD Activities.

Physicians in Interactions with Industry

Procedures:

There are no procedures associated with this policy.