Accreditation Eligibility
All activities must comply with the .Ìý
1. Physician organization: All accredited group learning activities must be developed or co-developed by a physician organization as defined by the Royal College.
2. The scientific planning committee (SPC): The SPC structure must be made up of representatives of the target audience; may be made up of the physicians, nurses, etc.
3. Needs assessments: 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. The needs assessments can identify either perceived or unperceived needs and should be used to inform:
- the development of learning objectives
- the identification of appropriate educational or delivery methods
- the selection of relevant educational content
- the development of evaluation strategies.
4. Learning Objectives (³¢°¿â€™s): In accordance with the results from the needs assessment; must clearly describe the intent of the educational activity; be written from the perspective of the learner; express the expected outcomes; must be made available to participants prior to the activity and must be incorporated into the evaluation strategy.
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5. SAP - Develop the program:
- must provide participants with a strategy to assess their knowledge, skills, clinical judgment and/or attitudes in comparison to an established scientific evidence base (clinical practice guidelines, meta-analysis or systematic review, etc.).
- must use methods that enable participants to demonstrate these abilities across the key areas of the subject area, topic or problem(s). The selected format must also enable participants to review their current knowledge or skills in relation to current scientific evidence.
- must provide participants with a summary of their responses to each question with references
6. SAP - Providing detailed feedback:
- must provide specific feedback on which answers were correct and incorrect with references enabling participants to determine if there are important aspects of their knowledge, skills, clinical judgment or attitudes that need to be addressed through engaging in further learning activities.
You may also wish to include a reflective tool that provides participants with an opportunity to document:
- knowledge or skills that are up-to-date or consistent with current evidence
- any deficiencies or opportunities they identified for further learning
- what learning strategies will be pursued to address these deficiencies; and
- an action plan or commitment to change to address any anticipated barriers.
Can a learning activity with a pre- and post-activity test be accredited as a self-assessment program?
If the pre/post-test is designed to provide learners with an opportunity to assess their knowledge and use the data and feedback to identify gaps and develop an appropriate educational response, then it is possible that the program would meet the accreditation standards. Self-assessment programs use a gap analysis strategy as indicated above under the heading ‘Develop the program’ - #5.
The gap analysis strategy must be designed to ensure that the key knowledge areas for a specific topic or condition are assessed in both a comprehensive (breadth) and complete (depth) manner. If the pre/posttest strategy is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning activity in enhancing knowledge or skills and not to support a gap analysis strategy, it would likely not meet the accreditation standards. Therefore, it must be determined whether the program is designed to enable learners to assess the extent or depth of their knowledge or if it an assessment strategy is being incorporated into a learning activity evaluation process.
7. Evaluating the SAP Activity: participants must have the opportunity to evaluate each individual module and/or the overall CPD activity.
- allow participants to identify whether the individual session and overall CPD activity learning objectives were met
- ask participants to identify whether the content was balanced and free of commercial or other inappropriate bias
- provide opportunities for participants to identify the potential impact of the CPD activity for their practice.
8. Complete an Accreditation application form: Complete the application form and submit with supporting materials such as, signed copies of the Declaration of Potential Conflict of Interest; SPC meeting minutes; needs assessment summary; evaluation form, etc.
9. Participants Certificates: two options are available, please consult ourÌýCertificate Request Form.
10. Evaluation outcome: Provide the CPD Office with a completed final report 8 weeks following the end of the accreditation period.
How can an audience response system (ARS) be integrated into a group learning activity so that participants can receive MOC Section 3 credits – SAP:
- Can be used to enhance the interactivity opportunities in a group learning setting
- Can be used to assess learners’ gaps in knowledge (strategy to assess their knowledge, skills, clinical judgment)
Questions to assess if the activity will meet CPD compliance:
1. Has appropriate depth and breadth of the specific topic been assessed?
The CPD standard: must be developed to provide a thorough review of all key knowledge areas.
2. How will learners record their answers?
The CPD standard: must allow learners to review their current knowledge in relation to current scientific evidence and provide learners with a process to record their answers.
3. How will participants receive feedback on their knowledge?
The CPD standard: must provide learners with feedback on the answers they provided (which questions were answered correctly/incorrectly).
4. How will the references for the correct answers be provided to learners?
The CPD standard: must provide references to facilitate a review of the evidence for incorrectly answered questions.
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*Page version 202212