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QA Program – Next Steps
Self-Regulation of Sonographers
Appointment of Public Members
Suspended Members
QA Program – Next Steps
All self-regulated health professions in Ontario are required to have a quality assurance program. The College’s QA Program is one of the leading such programs in the province. The goals of our program are to maintain and improve the quality of health care services provided to patients by MRTs.
Our program is based on the assumption that MRTs join the College with appropriate skills and knowledge acquired through required training programs. These initial competencies are maintained through continuing education and the expectation that MRTs will abide by the Standards of Practice. Our QA Program is based on the principle of continuous learning and requires that all members use a workbook to track their commitment to this principle. Each year the Quality Assurance Committee randomly selects a specified number of workbooks for review and comment.
The workbook – the heart of the program – that had been used for seven years was recently revised to conform to our new Standards of Practice. A new Quality Assurance Continuous Learning Workbook for Medical Radiation Technology was sent to all members in December 2003.
We are now ready to move to the next step in the development of our program. We are required by legislation to provide a means to assess how people in the profession actually perform in practice. This can be done on a random selection basis in the same way that we now review the member’s QA records as outlined in the Quality Assurance Continuous Learning Workbook for Medical Radiation Technology.
In order to develop a model that is specific to our profession we have begun a comprehensive study led by Dr. Claudio Violato*, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary and an expert in the development of program evaluations, psychometrics, research methods and statistics. Dr. Violato’s team has developed quality assurance programs for such health professions as pharmacy, medicine and optometry. An example of Dr. Violato’s work is the Physician Achievement Review Program (PAR) for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and can be viewed on the website (www.par-program.org).
The College has engaged Dr. Violato to develop a QA Program feedback system for our College. His work plan includes the following components:
- Developing a table of specifications based on our Standards of Practice
- Preparing a set of assessment tools that include the opportunity for self, peer, co-worker and patient feedback
- Developing and implementing a process for ensuring the validity and reliability of these tools
- Conducting one or perhaps two thorough pilot studies of the assessment tools to ensure their reliability and validity
There are a few things we want to stress about the process we have embarked upon to develop this practice appraisal method:
- The goal is to develop what we will be calling a “multi-source” assessment process. This means that the assessment process will incorporate views from the MRT as well as the MRT’s peers, co-workers and patients.
- The purpose of the multi-source assessment process will be to provide feedback to MRTs either to validate our clinical accomplishments or to determine steps we can take to improve our own professional practice.
- Experienced and highly competent MRTs will be guiding this study process, and will be vetting all the elements to ensure they are feasible and usable within the context of how we work as MRTs.
- Dr. Violato’s team will do broad survey research among College members to help guide their work. Many of you will have an opportunity to contribute your views by means of this research.
- We will inform you on a regular basis of progress and milestones.
This is an exciting new step in making our profession more accountable to patients for the critical health services we provide. We encourage all MRTs to provide their counsel and advice to the College throughout the study so that we develop a multi-source assessment process that properly reflects our practice as professionals.
* In addition to his role as a professor at the University of Calgary, Dr. Violato is president of Edumetrics Ltd., that offers a team of experts in program evaluation, quality assurance programs, statistical consulting and data analysis among other services. Edumetrics’ clients have included the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, Canadian Examiners in Optometry, Ontario College of Pharmacists, College of Chiropractors of Alberta, and College of Chiropractors of Ontario among many others.
Dr. Violato is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and six books.
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Self-Regulation of Sonographers
When the former Minister of Health and Long-Term Care asked the College to regulate MR technologists, he also decided to delay regulation of sonographers. Since that time, the regulation of MR technologists in conjunction with the College has proceeded rapidly.
However, based on a letter received from the Ontario Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (OSDMS) last fall, the CMRTO concluded that sonographers believe they are a distinct profession from the profession of medical radiation technologists. Sonographers, represented by the OSDMS, proposed that this distinction as a profession should be captured by including “diagnostic sonographers” in the name of the College that would be expanded to include diagnostic sonographers.
As College President, Sheila Robson, wrote in a letter to the OSDMS at the end of 2003, “It is clear from your letter that there has been a significant change in the OSDMS concept respecting the regulation of sonographers in conjunction with the CMRTO. Previously, it was agreed that sonography would be one of five specialties of the College (in addition to the four specialties of radiography, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy and magnetic resonance) and that the name of the College would be changed to the College of Medical Imaging Technologists and Radiation Therapists of Ontario. This was articulated in the joint CMRTO/OSDMS submission to the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council (HPRAC) in 1999.” This regulatory model has been a fundamental concept to the regulation of sonographers in conjunction with the College.
As College President, Sheila Robson, explained in this letter, “This new concept (designation as a distinct profession) is not the basis on which the College has been proceeding respecting the regulation of sonographers in conjunction with the CMRTO and is very different from the regulatory model developed by the Sonography Regulation Advisory Committee and supported by the College Council, HPRAC, and the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.”
The College continues to support the regulation of sonographers because it believes it is in the public interest that sonographers be regulated. However, the College and its members from the radiography, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy and magnetic resonance specialties have devoted nearly five years of work to facilitate self-regulation of sonographers.
The College Council has determined that it is not willing to commit any more of its current members’ resources given the uncertain commitment of the OSDMS to the previously agreed upon regulatory model and the decision of the then Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to delay the regulation of sonographers.
Appointment of Public Members
The College is pleased to welcome Patrice Burke from Brantford and Stanley Brown from Kincardine as newly appointed public members of Council. Both Ms. Burke and Mr. Brown have been appointed to the Council effective April 21, 2004 for a three year term.
The College expects to receive three more public member appointments over the next few weeks.
Because these public appointments had been delayed, the Council meeting scheduled for May 3, 2004 had to be cancelled. However, the College is confident that the Council will be fully constituted by the planned meeting on July 16, 2004.
Suspended Members
The following are the people whose certificates of registration have been suspended effective April 30, 2004, for failure to pay their fees in accordance with section 24 of the Health Professions Procedural Code. A person whose certificate of registration has been suspended is not a member of the College unless and until the suspension is removed.
| 10566 |
Archer, M. Michelle |
| 10366 |
Campbell, Mark S. |
| 11126 |
Menzies, Maria May |
| 11420 |
Warren, Aaron Richard |
| 11619 |
Mutter, Charlene Ann |
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