District #2 (Eastern District, Radiography) is composed of the geographic area within the territorial boundaries of the District Municipality of Muskoka, the Districts of Parry Sound and Nipissing, the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry, and Leeds and Grenville, the Counties of Frontenac, Hastings, Lanark, Lennox & Addington, Prince Edward and Renfrew, and the City of Ottawa.

District #5 (Radiation Therapy) includes all of the Province of Ontario.

Date:	Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Place:	College of Medical Radiation Technologists of Ontario 375 University Avenue, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M5G 2J5
Time:	Ballots must be received at the College no later than 5:30 p.m. on April 10, 2012.

The College's new Standards of Practice came into effect September 1, 2011 along with amendments to the MRT Act including a new scope of practice statement and additional controlled acts authorized to MRTs. These changes are a significant milestone in the practice of the profession as they are the first changes to the MRT Act since it first came into effect at the end of 1993. These changes are meant to promote the efficient delivery of safe medical radiation technology services to the public of Ontario, support interprofessional collaboration and reflect the evolution of the practice of MRTs over the past 18 years.

The review of the scope of practice and the legislative amendments has been a lengthy process and members will recall many articles published in Insights on the process and progress of this work. In September 2011, the College's Registrar, Linda Gough, presented workshops on the new scope of practice, authorized acts and Standards of Practice at 10 locations around the province. More than 450 MRTs were able to attend the workshops in person. For those members who were not able to attend a workshop, the two-hour presentation is now available for viewing on the College's website at www.cmrto.org at your convenience.

In September, the College mailed to each member the new Standards of Practice Handbook. At its meeting in June 2011, the College Council approved the new Standards of Practice, and also considered the format of the Standards of Practice for publication and distribution to members. Throughout the development of the Standards of Practice, the College engaged in a highly collaborative process which included consulting with members regarding their preference about the publication format of the new professional standards. In the College's survey of members regarding the draft Standards of Practice conducted in March 2011, almost 60% of MRTs indicated they prefer to receive the new Standards of Practice in paper format. Taking this feedback into account, the College Council determined to publish the Standards of Practice in both print and electronic format.

The College Council approved a three-ring binder format for the Standards of Practice Handbook in order to meet the needs expressed by members such as:

• Providing MRTs with one binder so that the documentation related to their practice can be in one location
• Allowing flexibility for including future updates
• Allowing for cost-effective updating without the need for expensive reprinting of existing documents
• Facilitating accessibility for all MRTs in all practice settings, including those whose employers do not permit access to external websites

The Standards of Practice Handbook is designed to allow members to insert documents that they already have from the College and to replace obsolete documents with revised or new publications as they become available.

In this electronic and environmentally conscious age, some MRTs have expressed a preference for electronic publication only; however, for the reasons explained above the College believes that the Standards of Practice Handbook will serve members well for many years to come.

On December 1, 2011, amendments to the Registration Regulation, O. Reg. 866/93, made under the MRT Act, came into force. The following section summarizes the main changes to the Registration Regulation:

General Housekeeping

• Two classes of certificate of registration: "restricted – in vitro" and "employment specific – radiography" have been removed from the regulation. There were no applicants for registration and no members in the class of "restricted – in vitro". The class of "employment specific – radiography" was restricted to those who were registered in that category by the Board of Radiological Technicians when it became the CMRTO. There are no longer any members in this class.
• The removal of a section that is no longer applicable related to the grandparenting provisions for an applicant to be issued a specialty certificate of registration in magnetic resonance. The period for an applicant to apply for registration under this provision ended in 2004.
• The removal of the periods in the abbreviation of the protected title and titles for the specialty certificates of registration. Effective December 1, 2011, a member of the CMRTO may use MRT as an abbreviation for "medical radiation technologist" and the following abbreviations corresponding to his or her specialty certificate of registration: MRT(R), MRT(N), MRT(T), or MRT(MR).
• The schedules of the regulation have been updated by adding the names of educational programs in medical radiation technology which have been approved by the College Council since the regulation was first made.

Registration Requirements for Applicants

• The addition of a general good conduct and good character provision to the requirements for registration.
• The addition of a requirement that an applicant must have successfully completed a course in jurisprudence set or approved by the College. Effective December 1, 2011, all applicants to the College, including graduates from Ontario educational programs and applicants from other Canadian provinces and other countries, are required to provide evidence that they have completed the College's legislation learning package and reviewed the appropriate provincial and federal statutes, regulations, policies and guidelines, in order to satisfy this requirement. This legislation learning package consists of modules describing the legislation and Standards of Practice governing the practice of the profession in Ontario. It is available at no charge on the College's website and can be completed as self-directed learning.

The Health Professions Procedural Code under the Regulated Health Professions Act was amended by the Ontario Labour Mobility Act, 2009. A section was added to the College's registration regulation to comply with the requirements of the Code related to labour mobility.

Conditions of a Certificate of Registration for Members of the College

• Members are now required to provide additional information regarding their conduct to the College. This includes reporting a finding of guilt for any offence, including any criminal offence and any offence related to the regulation of the practice of the profession that has not been previously reported to the College. Offences relate to findings of guilt made by a court that are typically punishable by a fine or jail term. Members are required to report a finding of guilt of an offence as soon as reasonably practicable after the member receives notice of the finding of guilt. The College will also ask members to provide this information at the time of renewal of their registration.
• Members are also required to provide details of an investigation or a proceeding involving an allegation of professional misconduct, incompetency or incapacity, in Ontario in relation to another profession or in another jurisdiction in relation to medical radiation technology or another health profession.

The College will be providing further information to members on the amendments to the Registration Regulation including a copy of the consolidated Registration Regulation published by the government and a copy of a new What You Must Know About.... Registration which will provide more detail on these changes. These publications will be in a format for you to insert into your Standards of Practice Handbook (see article elsewhere in this edition of Insights).

Technology is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace and changing almost every aspect of our lives along the way. Smart phones, digital cameras, and cell phones with digital cameras are now the norm. We can and do record and photograph ourselves and our surroundings regularly and share those images easily with family and friends. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms are growing exponentially and most major corporations now maintain some presence on what is called the social web. People now share images, opinions, and information with an ease that was impossible even five years ago.

While advances in communications are wonderful and can make many aspects of our lives simpler, as health professionals, MRTs have to consider how the use of these new social networking platforms could impact their professional obligations, particularly as it relates to patient confidentiality and privacy.

As MRTs, we have to consider not only our responsibilities under our employer's confidentiality and privacy policies, but also our professional obligations regarding confidentiality and privacy of patient information as set out in the College's Standards of Practice. The College Standards of Practice require that MRTs understand how and act to protect the confidentiality of all professionally acquired information about patients and the privacy of patients with respect to that information, while facilitating the effective delivery of health care.

For example, digital photographs taken in the workplace could inadvertently contain patient information displayed on computer screens, labels, charts or documents, as well as images of patients. The sharing or posting of an image that contains this kind of information may disclose the identity of and/or other information about a patient. Even if the information is in the background and the sharing or posting was done inadvertently, disclosure of the identity of a patient and/or other information about a patient, without his or her consent, would be a breach of patient confidentiality and privacy. Similarly, e-mailing, posting on Facebook or Twitter or blogging about one's work could be a breach of patient confidentiality and privacy if patient information is disclosed without the patient's consent.

If a complaint or mandatory report is made to the College regarding a breach of patient confidentiality and privacy on social platforms, the matter would be handled by the College's Inquiries, Complaints & Reports Committee (ICRC) and could result in the member having to appear before the ICRC for a caution, complete a specified continuing education or remediation program or, in the most serious of cases, to face a referral of allegations of professional misconduct to the Discipline Committee for a hearing.

So, as we embrace these exciting social networks and enjoy the convenience and connectivity it offers, MRTs, like all other health professionals, must consider their use in our practice to ensure that patient confidentiality and privacy are not inadvertently compromised.

The following are the people whose certificates of registration were suspended between July 1, 2011 and October 31, 2011, 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.