Only a physician organization may seek accreditation.

A physician organization is 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 (CPD) and/or provision of health care or research. Members are enabled to vote on strategic directions and initiatives of the organization as a whole.

The definition of physician organization includes the following:

• faculties of medicine departments or divisions
• hospital departments or divisions
• medical societies,
• medical associations
• medical academies
• physician research organizations
• Canadian provincial/territorial medical regulatory authorities (MRAs)

The physician organization is accountable to and serving, among others, its physician members through a governance structure that enables the membership to vote on strategic directions and initiatives of the organization as a whole. 

This definition does NOT include:

• pharmaceutical companies and their advisory groups
• medical and surgical supply companies
• medical device companies
• medical education or communications (MEC) companies (e.g. CME Inc.)
• disease-oriented patient advocacy organizations (e.g. Canadian Diabetes Association)
• government departments or agencies (e.g. Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada)
• for-profit online educators, publishing companies or simulation companies (e.g. Medscape)
• small groups of physicians working together to develop educational programming
• any other for-profit organizations/ventures/companies

All accredited/certified activities must have a scientific planning committee (SPC), appointed by and including member(s) of the accountable physician organization that are representative of the target audience.

UBC CPD requires a minimum of two physicians to sit on each SPC. If the target audience is inter-professional, the SPC should consists of representatives from each profession where possible. Meeting minutes should be kept from year to year with dates and attendees.

Disclosures (from each SPC member) and declarations (for specific SPC member roles) need to be signed and submitted with application.  See below.

Responsibilities of SPC

The SPC must ensure that decision-making related to the following CPD program elements is under its exclusive control:

• identification of the educational needs of the intended target audience;
• development of learning objectives;
• selection of educational methods;
• selection and invitation of all persons involved in development, delivery and evaluation of the CPD activity (e.g. speakers, moderators, facilitators, instructors, authors);
• development and delivery of content;
• evaluation of outcomes;
• review of disclosures prior to the activity and to evaluations and final budget following the activity.
• Declarations
• Disclosures
• Informing others of accreditation standards (speaker letter)

NOTE: The SPC cannot include members from pharmaceutical, medical supply, medical education, or other for-profit companies. Inclusion of members from industry or other for-profit companies on the SPC is strictly prohibited.

Consult CHECKLIST & Forms to access the appropriate Declaration Forms.

Declarations are required by select SPC members who qualify to take on a formal role for the credit type. A qualifying physician may have more than one SPC role (eg. one could serve as accountable physician and RCSPC member).

Accountable Physician

Required for all programs. The accountable physician is the chair or one member of the SPC representing the physician organization, and as such agrees to assume ultimate responsibility for upholding the accreditation/certification standards and for following the UBC CPD Guidelines for Support in preparing and implementing the CPD activity. 

RCPSC Member

Required for MOC credits. One member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) is required to be on the SPC to represent the target audience of specialists. The declaration verifies the RCPSC member of having had substantial input into the program.

UBC FoM Member

Required for Mainpro+ credits. One physician member of the UBC Faculty of Medicine (UBC FoM) is required to be on the SPC to represent UBC FoM.  The declaration verifies the UBC FoM member of having had substantial input into the program. 

CFPC Member

Required for Mainpro+ credits. One member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), residing in the province of BC, is required to be on the SPC to represent the target audience of BC family physicians.

Disclosures of one’s financial relationships is an international best practice for those developing content for accredited activities. The aim of disclosures is to bring to light potential conflicts of interest (COI) – situations in which individuals stand to gain financially through promotion of a product or service via the accredited activity.

Transparency around financial relationships supports the ethical goal of accreditation which is to separate education from promotion. Anyone who controls content must complete a disclosure form.

See the CHECKLIST & Forms for the fillable pdf disclosure form.

DiscLosure Review

1. UBC CPD collects and reviews the disclosures of the SPC (submitted with application)
2. SPC collects and reviews all other disclosures of speakers, moderators, facilitators, and authors. Identify and remove any conflicts of interest. Ensure disclosures are available to participants for transparency.

Conflicts of INterest (COI)

Look for instances where financial relationships and content coincide. Because of the risk that the individual may be financially rewarded for promoting the product or service of the company with whom they have a relationship, that topic area would be deemed off-limits for input or discussion by that individual.

No longer limited to relationships with the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device industries, COIs could include promoting one’s own services, soliciting subscribers, increasing book sales, etc. Any intent to promote must be identified and removed beforehand.

COI Management

The SPC must have procedures in place to be followed to review disclosures prior to the activity so that a determination can be made about whether or not a COI exists. If a COI is identified, appropriate COI management strategies include:
    • The presenter is asked to present on a different subject.
    • The presenter alters their financial relationship.
    • The presenter relinquishes control of content of the presentation.
    • Independent expert content review is obtained.
On rare occasions, a speaker or SPC member may need to be replaced.

For CPD activities to be eligible for accreditation, the PRIMARY target audience must be physicians (specialists, family physicians, or both). Aside from governing the program design and content, identifying the target audience determines which type of credits will be most appropriate:

Needs assessment is the process involved in gathering information to identify the learning needs of the target audience. The learning needs are the basis for identifying appropriate learning objectives and the content and format of the educational activity. To identify the learning gap the SPC should describe the target audience, work environment or work activities, and demonstrate a valid professional practice gap from which the educational needs are identified. Identify preferred learning style and current knowledge or skill level, then determine desired knowledge or skill level.

The most useful needs assessments are those where multiple methods are utilized to identify educational needs linked to improved patient care. 

To help identify needs, the SPC should ask the following questions:

• How common is the need among our target audience?
• How many different assessment sources indicate this need?
• How significantly will the unfulfilled learning need hinder health care delivery?
• How directly is the need related to actual physician performance?
• How likely is it that a CPD activity will improve practice behaviour?
• Are sufficient resources available to effectively address this topic?
• How receptive will our target audience be to a session on this topic?

NOTE: With the new National Standard released in Jan 2018, needs assessment tools are required to be submitted with an application (examples include past evaluations, focus group questionnaires etc.).

The physician organization must have overall accountability for the finances of the CPD activity.

Accredited activities should aim to be financially self-sustaining, and should not be profit-generating. Surplus funds generated from a recurring activity should be earmarked for the planning, development, or delivery of subsequent activities of a recurring nature. Surplus funds from a single, non-recurring event should be returned to the physician organization (not an individual) and be used to support continuing education activities in the organization.

The responsibility for payments may only be delegated to a third party not-for-profit organization.

Create a Budget

Identify all sources of funding/revenue and expenses directly on the budget, even if internally funded. Indicate how any surplus or deficit will be handled. A budget with all projected revenues/funding from all sources, and general expenses, is to be submitted with the application package.

See the CHECKLIST & Forms for a sample budget.

Sponsorship

If you are planning to obtain sponsorship, please read the UBC CPD Guidelines for Support. Remember that commercial sponsorship requires that registration fees be charged.

Only the UBC CPD-approved sponsorship opportunities may be offered in the prospectus, which outlines exactly the opportunities that sponsors would have for supporting an event.
See the CHECKLIST & Forms for: Sponsorship Request Letter template.

The terms, conditions and purposes by which commercial sponsorship is provided must be documented in a written agreement that is signed by the CPD provider organization and for-profit sponsors. The sponsorship agreement reflects the sponsorship request/prospectus.

See CHECKLIST & Forms for: Sponsorship Agreement template.

All sponsors must be acknowledged in a standardized way using the following acknowledgment statement:

"Funds in support of [Name of CPD activity] were provided as an educational grant to [Name of physician organization]. The funds were independently allocated and disbursed in accordance with the UBC CPD Support Guidelines, adherent to the National Standard."

See Financial Accountability

The SPC must ensure that the selected educational methods and delivery are consistent with the identified need(s) and stated learning objectives as well.

Learning objectives that address identified needs must be created for the overall event and for individual sessions, and be available to participants on the program brochure and/or handout materials. A learner-centered objective is specific, short-range, and relatively concrete. It describes what a learner will be able to do differently (what learner behaviour will change) if they attend the presentation.

Design your CPD learning activity to address the professional practice gaps identified by the needs assessment.

​Create a detailed program with an agenda of topics, speakers, start and end times, question and answer/discussion periods, breaks, etc.

• Include learner-centred objectives.
• Count credit hours by totaling the educational hours and subtracting the breaks.
• Relay the accreditation standards to all those developing content ("speaker communications"): Consult CHECKLIST & Forms for template

Informing others of standards

The scientific planning committee (SPC) is accountable for all content delivered and must ensure that all persons involved are formally informed of the accreditation/certification standards. As stated in the UBC CPD Guidelines for Support, Element 2.2, inform those responsible for developing or delivering content (aka "speaker letter") about the following:

• the identified needs of the target audience;
• must be based on identified needs, and be in learner-centred format;
• content and materials provide a balanced view across all relevant options related to the content area and reflect the current scientific literature;
• description of therapeutic options must utilize generic (or both generic and trade) names and not reflect exclusivity and branding;
• presenters must declare any off-label use when making therapeutic recommendations for medications that have not received regulatory approval;
• every effort must be made to avoid bias, whether commercial or other;
• of all relationships with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations is required; presenters must disclosure to participants, both on slides (disclosure, management) and verbally
• references to evidence used to create content must be included in presentations;
• time allotment must be adhered to, including time for interactivity such as Q & A; and
• content and materials must meet professional standards and legal requirements, including the protection of privacy, confidentiality, and copyright.

Consult CHECKLIST & Forms to access the speaker communication (comms) template.

By now your program is ready to be reviewed for CPD credit approval.

Consult the CHECKLIST & Forms  to ensure you have all of the required documentation and apply.

Applying via the online portal is recommended.

Once your program has been approved, you will receive an approval email with your official accreditation/certification statement to be used on certificates, as well as the "Accredited by UBC CPD" logo. This information may also be used for advertising the CPD credits for your learning activity. UBC CPD forwards notification of approval to the appropriate medical college(s) so that physician may claim credits after attending.

Participants must be provided with an opportunity to evaluate individual sessions and overall CPD activity. The evaluation system must provide participants with the opportunity to i) Identify whether the individual session and overall CPD activity learning objectives were met, ii) Identify whether the content was balanced and free of commercial or other inappropriate bias, and iii) Identify the potential impact of the CPD activity for their practice (reflection). 
See the CHECKLIST & Forms for: Evaluation Form and Speaker Evaluation templates.

 Questions required to be included on the evaluation:

1. Did the program meet the stated learning objectives:
   □  Yes            □  No         □  N/A     |     If no, please explain: (text box)
    
2. Did you perceive any degree of bias in any part of the program?
   □  Yes            □  No     |     If yes, please describe: (text box)
    
3. Reflecting on the program content, I am motivated to change my practice in the following ways:
   (text box)
    
4. Did the program content offer balanced views across all relevant options related to the content area?
   It is a requirement of the National Standard that program be evaluated for balance when therapeutic options are being discussed.
   Can be omitted if no therapeutic options are discussed in the program (ie. faculty development, quality improvement, etc.)
    
5. Can you identify any barriers to incorporating what you learned into your practice?
   Develop a strategy to identify barriers to practice change. Using a question on the evaluation form to explore individuals’ knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour is one way to achieve this.
   Can be omitted if another strategy has been developed.

Note: As of June 2018, these two questions are no longer required on evaluations:

• This CPD activity content enhanced my knowledge  
• Indicate which CanMEDS/CanMEDS-FM roles you felt were addressed

The evaluation must include the question: “Did you perceive any degree of bias in any part of the program? Yes/No”. The responses to this question (ie. the number of yes, no and total responses) are to be forwarded to UBC CPD within 3 months of the event, via a brief email.

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