Accreditation

Conferences and Workshops

The Department of Medicine develops internationally renowned continuing professional development (CPD) offerings. The learning opportunities afforded by these CPD programs are highly sought after, attracting participants internationally. Examples include programs on highly specialized topics in medicine, training on cutting-edge procedural skills, and award-winning certificate level programs. Target audiences include the spectrum of healthcare practitioners, ranging from primary care and specialist physicians to interprofessional healthcare providers. You can search for CPD programs organized by Department of Medicine faculty members at the University of Toronto Office of CPD’s events listing site.

Conference, workshops and longitudinal courses offered by Department of Medicine faculty members are usually accredited through the Faculty of Medicine’s Office of Continuing Professional Development. As with all of our CPD offerings, incorporation of elements of QI is encouraged.

Listed below are a few helpful hints that support CPD organizers to incorporate QI into your upcoming CPD offering:

1. Highlight important quality gaps or quality problems relating to your clinical topic.
   Example: a session on heart failure could present studies highlighting the preventable readmission rate in heart failure patients.
    
2. Review evidence supporting quality improvement initiatives that have demonstrated benefit in relation to your clinical topic.
   Example: a session on diabetes could review recent research demonstrating the benefits of case management for patients with poor glycemic control.
    
3. Present local performance data relating to your clinical topic to generate discussion amongst participants about quality gaps and strategies that could address them.
   Example: a session on venous thromboembolism could present institutional DVT rates and ask participants to discuss how best to improve DVT prophylaxis rates.
    
4. Incorporate a specific quality improvement tool or content into your session.
   Example: a session on acute stroke management could introduce participants to basic chart audit methods as a way to measure adherence to key processes in acute stroke care.

Rounds, Journal Club and Small Group Activities

Rounds, Journal Club and small group activities are accredited through a self-approval process under the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Maintenance of Certification Program. If you need to accredit this type of program, please follow the steps outlined on the RCPSC’s site.

Sponsorship and Conflict of Interest

The Faculty of Medicine’s policy on Sponsorship from Commercial Sources of University of Toronto Accredited Continuing Education Activities contains important information for the organizers of any CPD offerings within the Faculty and its departments, institutes and centres. At its core rests these general guiding principles:

• CPD must be free of commercial influence, based on best scientific evidence and focused on improving the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour of learners.
• CPD providers must ensure that teachers deliver current, objective, and scientifically rigorous content.
• CPD program planners must avoid promoting, as a member of their profession, any service or product for personal gain.
• Planning committee members will oversee the needs assessment, program development, compliance with disclosure rules, and the oversight of the activity in general.
• CPD providers should resist any influence or interference that could undermine their professional integrity.