Professional Development
Professional Development Resources
The Department of Pediatrics has access to a wide array of valuable professional development resources, spanning all career stages.
Stay tuned for further details on an exciting new Professional Development Program.
Do you have a clinical question that you feel is a potential opportunity to improve on patient care?
The Physician Learning Program (PLP) is an established leader in the support of clinical quality improvement projects, providing services and resources to physicians with the goal of improving patient outcomes. Their team has widespread expertise in the processes required to obtain, analyze and present health systems data, helping physicians to find solutions to clinical questions and implement these improvement initiatives into their practices.
These services are provided free of charge for Alberta Medical Association (AMA) members.
For additional information on the PLP and the resources available, please visit: https://albertaplp.ca/
Please contact Dr. Susan Kuhn (Deputy Head, Professional Affairs) to inquire about career coaching within the Department of Pediatrics.
Physician Practice Improvement (PPIP)
The PPIP program is analogous to CME; you will need to document each project and keep it in your files in case of auditing. When you renew your license at the end of the year, you merely check off the PIPP you have completed. The documentation does NOT need to be submitted to the CPSA.
These projects may serve double duty for RCPSC MOC Section 3 credits such as chart audit and feedback, practice assessment, etc. See The Maintenance of Certification Program (royalcollege.ca) for details.
The first 5-year cycle was launched in 2021 and consists of 3 separate projects to be completed in that time:
A practice quality improvement activity (group or individual)
A CPSA Standards of Practice (SOP) activity (individual)
A personal development activity (individual)
PPIP Tips
The PPIP Tips section in the Weekly Bulletin: Professional Development Features (every 3rd Thursdays of the month) has been created in response to members in the Department requesting assistance with the Physician Practice Improvement Projects required by the CPSA in order to maintain their licensure.
Over the next few months, tips for each of these projects will be provided in the Weekly Bulletin. The PPIP program is analogous to CME; you will need to document each project and keep it in your files in case of auditing. When you renew your license at the end of the year, you merely check off the PPIP you have completed. The documentation does NOT need to be submitted to the CPSA.
These projects may serve double duty for RCPSC MOC Section 3 credits such as chart audit and feedback, practice assessment, etc. See The Maintenance of Certification Program for details.
We are here to help each other, so stay tuned for an upcoming information session as well as more PPIP Tips on each of project types including more ideas, examples and useful tools provided by your colleagues. If you would be willing to share what you’ve done or learned, please contact Dr. Mike Leaker, Dr. Tania Principi, Dr. Natalie Forbes, or Cecilia Lee.
Before you dive in, take a deep breath. Our most important tip is the same advice we would give a trainee who is embarking on a research project: keep it as simple and as relevant to your practice as possible. Even better, get the most bang for your time-bucks by making it do double duty as suggested below. If your pulse has dropped, read on!
Some project examples are:
- QI (Quality Improvement): Identify something that your clinic or office would like to improve such as printing the After Visit Summary (AVS), screening for travel history, and reviewing routine vaccines.
- CPSA SOP (Standards of Practice): Randomly select 10 patient charts and review them using tools on the CPSA website. See Standards of Practice - College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta | CPSA for SOP.
- Personal Development: A recent 360 assessment, or a reflective course such as in leadership or the Affirmation of Professional Calling workshop.
Connect Care users can leverage the resources shared on our website to support two of the PPIP requirements. These Connect Quality tools offer three project ideas and step-by-step instructions to make it easier to complete the QI-focused CPSA requirements: one individual Practice-Driven Quality Improvement Activity and two CPSA Standards of Practice Quality Improvement Activities.
Watch for more PIPP Tips in the fall for community department members who do not use Connect Care and for group Practice-Driven Quality Improvement Activities.
The Department of Pediatrics Weekly Bulletin is sent out via email on a weekly basis. Learn more here
Weekly Bulletin Subscription form
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Resources
Here are some helpful tools and resources to help you complete your projects for PPIP.
MyPI
My Practice Improvement created by UCalgary's Cumming School of Medicine, Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development provides coaching on how to best reflect on your practice and create actionable change plans that you can implement. Most importantly, the tool helps keep you accountable along the way.
MyL3Plan
My My Lifelong Learning Plan is a free online tool created by the University of Alberta that can be used to meet and support your practice improvement activities.
Connect Care
Connect Quality supports completion of the first two PPIP projects guided by the CPSA's published requirements.