 Dr Kim Hill
The past twelve months has seen considerable advancement of new CEP initiatives, and the culmination of some of the longer-term goals. As with all the College’s endeavours, these have been the combined achievement of a team of dedicated individuals, who bring energy, expertise and enthusiasm to the task at hand, and for the benefi t of the College in general.
One of the most signifi cant achievements has been the establishment of the educational platform of the College’s Continuing Education Program, through the development of the Continuing Education Program Curriculum and associated mapping of CEP activities to the RACMA curriculum areas and competency domains. The result is a series of guides that can be used prospectively (or retrospectively if needed) to explore priorities for professional development, and as part of a CEP learning contract.
RACMA Council approved the CEP Curriculum on 16 February 2008. It is now formally part of the College’s CEP educational platform, and is available on the CEP pages of the College’s website, for ready access. I would like to take this opportunity to especially acknowledge the work of Dr Gabrielle duPreez-Wilkinson in the development of this College CEP curriculum and competency domain matrix. My thanks also go to the CEP Coordinators for ensuring that there has been discussion within the local State/Territory/NZ Committees in its development.
The creation of the electronic CEP environment where Fellows and Members can record and report their participation in CEP has been a welcome addition to the College’s CEP infrastructure in 2008. The two electronic environment CEP tools were demonstrated in their early stages at the 2007 RACMA National Conference, where feedback was invited from conference participants on both online tools. Now, one year later, I am pleased to say that the in-house RACMA eCEP tool is now in place, and Fellows and Members are now being actively encouraged to use eCEP to document their CEP learning plans and activities as of 2008. For Queensland Fellows, the electronic environment has been created through partnership with ACRRM, and the associated RRMEO tool is also in place. The further advantage of the electronic environment is its application to facilitating CEP Coordinators, the National Director Continuing Education/Recertifi cation and the National Secretariat in relation to approval and certifi cation of participation, which is then of benefi t to all concerned. I would like to thank Dr Bernard Street, Dr Karen Owen and Dr Gabrielle duPreez-Wilkinson in particular, for the support they have given in moving our electronic CEP environment agenda forward during recent years.
This past year has also been marked by substantial review of governance around CEP, including delineation of roles of RACMA CEP offi ce bearers, and the CEP committee structure and reporting lines. Policies on mandatory participation in CEP, the annual audit program and the mentoring program have been developed and approved, and extensive work has been done in defi ning and documenting RACMA CEP Business Rules, to provide Fellows and Members with clear and concise information about aspects of CEP (most recently in relation to Fellows and members who undertake CEP conjointly with another medical College). In 2008, the CEP Committee also reviewed the structure and content of the CEP pages on the College’s website, to ensure that it was a suitable and accessible source of up-to-date information about CEP.
These initiatives were instrumental to successful preparation for AMC Review, and members of the CEP Committee met with the AMC Review Team at the College in Melbourne and via teleconference on Wednesday 18 June 2008. The outcome of this discussion, as evidenced by the preliminary report of the AMC Team, was positive and constructive.
In 2007-2008, Council formally restated its expectation that Fellows and Members participate in the College’s CEP as part of being in good professional standing. The revised policy on Implementation of Mandatory Participation in the Continuing Education Program was informed by the results of the 2007 CEP Survey, where Fellows and Members were asked their views on different aspects of the Continuing Education Program, via a survey conducted through the RACMA website.
In the outcomes of this CEP Survey, awareness of the requirements for participation in CEP by Fellows and Members was rated as high, with 85% of respondents confi rming that they were aware they had given a commitment to participate in CEP, and 63% indicating that they had completed the College’s CEP requirements. In relation to reporting and certification, 53% of those who responded said they did not report their CEP for RACMA to RACMA. Of those who did report, 52% of respondents thought the existing reporting arrangements were adequate, while 46% believed reporting arrangements need improvement. Feedback was also received about the barriers that affected participation, including access to relevant CEP activities and uncertainty about how to participate in the RACMA program.
The CEP Committee responded to this feedback by the development of material and tools directed to the educational components of CEP, and explored ways to clarify and streamline the processes of contract development, review and certifi cation. A communication strategy was developed and is now being implemented around CEP, and has included letters and email to Fellows and Members, communication with local RACMA committees and articles in The Quarterly on CEP.
Despite these initiatives, there has been little change in participation in recent months, as measured by the rate of formal certifi cation of participation. The rate of certifi cation of participation for Fellows has fallen as of end May 2008, while the rate has actually increased for Members. It is expected that these rates will increase soon, once the transition to the new electronic CEP tools is in place, and the fi nal report on 2008 participation rates will be completed in October 2008, for presentation to Council at the National Conference. Participation rates will continue to be monitored as the College moves towards its target of achieving 100% engagement in its Continuing Education Program by Fellows and Members.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the RACMA CEP Committee for their substantial contributions during the past year. The College is very much dependent on the voluntary time of its State/Branch/ New Zealand CEP Coordinators, and I would like to acknowledge Dr Jennifer Baker and Dr Rod Lambert (ACT), Dr Fung Hong (HK), Dr Eva Pilowsky (NSW), Dr Bob Boyd and Dr Pim Allen (New Zealand), Dr Gabrielle duPreez-Wilkinson (Qld/NT), Dr Bruce Swanson (SA), Dr Helen McArdle (Tas), Dr Bernard Street (Vic) and Dr Robyn Lawrence (WA), all of whom have been part of the deliberations and achievements of the CEP Committee in 2006-2007. I would also like to thank the College Secretariat, Dr Karen Owen, Mr Dino DeFazio and Ms Kathy Griffiths, who provided their support and assistance in moving CEP initiatives forward during the past year
Dr Kim Hill
National Director Continuing Education/Recertification
The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators
Dr Kim Hill, The Quarterly - Vol.41 No.4 December 2008, p16-17
www.racma.edu.au /index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=275&Itemid=515
|
