Advancing Medical Education for Physicians in Canada

Ottawa – Knowing that physicians keep up-to-date with new and changing health issues and medical treatments is important to patients and other health care professionals. So, it’s good to know that this is the focus of a significant project called The Future of Medical Education in Canada – Continuing Professional Development (FMEC-CPD) – a collaboration of seven major Canadian medical organizations. Together they have released a report outlining a transition to a new national system that supports physician learning and practice improvement: Supporting Learning and Continuous Practice Improvement for Physicians in Canada: A New Way Forward.

The report provides 11 recommendations aimed at developing a new CPD system in Canada that supports four key goals:

To enhance the patient experience of care
Improve population health
Increase value, appropriateness and quality of health care
Improve the work life of health care providers

“We’re very proud of the ground-breaking work achieved through this collaboration and we thank all our partners for their contributions,” says FMEC-CPD co-chair, Dr. Craig Campbell, Principal Senior Advisor, Competency-based CPD with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. “The report recommendations are dedicated to ensuring that our National CPD system helps physicians learn and continuously improve their practice throughout their careers, and to strengthen the role of our health systems and CPD provider organizations across the country. We need to transform the current CPD system to respond to the health needs of patients and promote learning that is relevant to a physician’s practice as it evolves throughout their careers.”

FMEC-CPD co-chair, Dr. Jeff Sisler, Executive Director, Professional Development and Practice Support with the College of Family Physicians of Canada adds, “The FMEC-CPD report has something for everyone. For physicians, it envisions a CPD system that supports their learning to continuously improve their practice. For CPD providers, it offers an integrated and collaborative CPD community that is better equipped to respond to changing practice needs. And for patients, it means that their doctors have CPD opportunities that are more focused on practice change and on addressing patient and community health needs.”

Implementation of the report recommendations will take at least two more years, but an action plan is already under way. A few highlights of the work ahead include: sharing the report with stakeholders; establishing leadership networks; creating certification programs; developing a national CPD database; and liaising with governments at all levels to secure funding and support.

The FMEC-CPD Collaborative Partners:
Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC)
Canadian Medical Association (CMA)
Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA)
College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)
Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FMRAC)
Medical Council of Canada (MCC)
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RC)

For further information about FMEC-CPD: www.fmec-cpd.ca

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Contact:
Fran Kirby,
FMEC-CPD Project Lead
[email protected]
709-746-7022

Media Inquiries:
AFMC:
Annie Barette
Manager, Media and Government Relations
[email protected]
613-730-0443

CMA:
Anick Losier
Director, Media & Issue Management
[email protected]
613-807-0457

CMPA:
Dima Hanhan
Public Relations Advisor, Media Relations and Public Affairs
[email protected]
613-316-7513

CFPC:
Jayne Johnston
Director, Communications
[email protected]
905-629-0900 ext. 303 / 905-407-9140

FMRAC:
Fleur-Ange Lefebvre
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
[email protected]
613-738-0372 ext. 2602

MCC:
Kathryn Keyes
Director, Communications and Marketing
[email protected]
613-521-6012 ext. 2277

RC:
Christina Baird
Senior Communications Specialist
[email protected]
613-730-8177 ext. 342