- The program or conference must be led by a Program Director or Conference Chair who is a University of Toronto faculty member with an active appointment in the Faculty of Medicine and be developed or co-developed by a physician organization (see the definition of a physician organization on the National Standard)
- The Program Director or Conference Chair must put a scientific planning committee is in place, which:
- is responsible for all aspects of the CPD activity from needs assessment and development through to implementation and evaluation
- engages the CPD Director and/or Chair of their department early in the planning process and obtains approval for the academic and financial aspects (liability) of the program/conference
- ensures that the CPD activity complies with the University of Toronto Policy on Sponsorship Support
- the scientific planning committee must be representative of the target audience
- has either one or two active practicing-class CFPC members if applying for College of Family Physicians of Canada Mainpro+ certification (local and provincially promoted programs require 1 while nationally promoted programs require 2), and a specialist physician if applying for Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada accreditation
- The program or conference must be an in-person or online synchronous group learning or asynchronous online self-study educational activity. For additional information on online program accreditation requirements please see the Asynchronous Online Self-Study Quick Tip E-Learning Programs Quick Tip
- The CPD activity meets the following educational and ethical criteria:
- a needs assessment, both unperceived and perceived needs of the representative target audience has been completed
- learning objectives have been defined according to the learning needs
- a minimum 25% of the CPD activity is dedicated to interactive learning
- learners must have an opportunity to evaluate the CPD activity
- a registration fee is required for programs and conferences to be considered for accreditation. Faculty development 1 or departmental/divisional research days are exempt
- for programs or conferences with financial or in-kind sponsorship support (for profit, not-for-profit, and public sector): if there is external funding for the CPD activity, it must be held as an unrestricted educational grant through the Program Director or Conference Chair’s U of T clinical department, hospital, society or other not-for-profit physician organization. A written agreement must be in place for all sponsorships and signed by both parties. A sample template is available for download. Agreements must be made available to CPD for audit purposes if requested. Financial or in-kind support must come from multiple sponsors.
- the Faculty and Planning Committee Disclosure Declaration Form must be completed by all speakers, moderators, facilitators, authors and members of the scientific planning committee
- the scientific planning committee must have a process in place for reviewing and mitigating declared conflicts of interest
- conflicts of interests must be disclosed to participants/learners using the approved slide template. For further information and examples pertaining to conflict of interest disclosures see the COI Quick Tip
- Overall financial responsibility for this program or conference must rest with a University of Toronto department, hospital, society or other not-for-profit physician organization
- Applications must be submitted 10 weeks in advance of the program or conference start date. Applications submitted with less than 10 weeks of the intended start date will be subject to late fees. Applications submitted within 2 weeks of the intended start date will not be considered.
- A University of Toronto accreditation fee will apply. This fee will be assessed as part of the application review. Note that non-fee bearing Faculty Development, Department Research Days, Rounds and Alumni events are fee exempt
Notes
- Faculty development is a broad range of activities used to renew or assist faculty, supervisors, preceptors, field instructors, clinical educators, and status appointees in their roles as educators. These activities are designed to improve an individual’s knowledge and skills in teaching, education, administration, leadership and research. (For examples of Faculty Development programs, visit the Centre for Faculty Development.
- Self-approved group-learning activities whose target audience members are specialists include hospital sponsored rounds, journal clubs or small group-learning activities may apply for credits through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.