Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums
  • My alerts
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow cfp Template on Twitter
OtherCollege

Personal learning plan: an update

Francine Lemire
Canadian Family Physician November 2017, 63 (11) 896;
Francine Lemire
Roles: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading
Figure

Dear Colleagues,

An important element of our evolution in Mainpro+ has been our deliberate attempt to nudge members toward conducting a more robust assessment of their learning needs as they formulate a plan for their continuing professional development (CPD). For several years, the Collège des médecins du Québec has required that its physician members assess on an annual basis their ongoing learning needs, based on their practice profile; develop a plan to meet those needs; and then reflect on the effect of CPD on their practice. Manitoba is piloting a similar approach with volunteer physicians, and Quebec will soon also be mandating the participation of physicians in assessment activities that involve a direct evaluation of practice or performance as part of their CPD.

In collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the CFPC is working toward the development of personal learning plans (PLPs). Several factors, in addition to expectations from regulatory bodies (eg, the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada’s Physician Practice Improvement) and health authorities credentialing, lead us in this direction. These factors include an evolution, over the past decade, from continuing medical education to CPD, with attention to the broader roles assumed by physicians beyond the CanMEDS–Family Medicine role of family medicine expert; the need for family physicians to continue to be more deliberate in meeting the needs of their patients and communities, as reinforced in the new CFPC strategic plan; physicians becoming increasingly engaged in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives; the recognition that practice-based learning has become part of physicians’ daily lives; and the importance of matching CPD more closely to the actual scope of a physician’s practice across the continuum of learning from residency into practice and across career stages, including the transition out of practice. It is anticipated that, over time, physicians will have access to rich data about their practice, which will help them in analyzing and responding to questions such as, What am I curious about? What do I need to know more about? What do I need to do or do differently? What do my patients and my community need from me as a physician?

A PLP working group with diverse representation is now at work. It is completing an environmental scan of the implementation of these plans in practice settings around the world. It is also consulting with members at opportune moments such as during our May 2017 annual Leaders’ Forum, where members provided important feedback. They suggested a “start slow, go slow” approach, beginning with a voluntary pilot; ensuring good understanding in favour of the evidence for proceeding in this direction; working with regulatory authorities on a common framework, minimizing variation in the approach; keeping it simple; incentivizing participation by giving Mainpro+ credits; creating supports and tools to assist members; and conducting an evaluation of the effect of PLPs on learning and practice.

We want to assure you that this feedback has been heard and is being taken into account as we are moving forward with this initiative. At a recent plenary on high-impact CPD at the 9th National CPD Accreditation Conference, Dr Simon Kitto, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, reminded us that there is good evidence in favour of continuing medical education having an effect on knowledge and practice.1 We expect that the PLP initiative will be a good building block to better support family physicians in choosing high-quality CPD programs that meet both their interests and community needs. Stay tuned for new developments in this area.

Acknowledgments

I thank Ms Amy Outschoorn and Drs Jeff Sisler and Janice Harvey for their review of this article.

Footnotes

  • Cet article se trouve aussi en français à la page 895.

  • Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada

Reference

  1. 1.↵
    1. Kitto S
    . Outcomes of CPD—what the literature tells us. Presented at: 9th National CPD Accreditation Conference; 2017 Sep 25–26; Ottawa, ON.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Family Physician: 63 (11)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 63, Issue 11
1 Nov 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The College of Family Physicians of Canada.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Personal learning plan: an update
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The College of Family Physicians of Canada
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The College of Family Physicians of Canada web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Personal learning plan: an update
Francine Lemire
Canadian Family Physician Nov 2017, 63 (11) 896;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Share
Personal learning plan: an update
Francine Lemire
Canadian Family Physician Nov 2017, 63 (11) 896;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • Reference
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Le point sur le Plan d’apprentissage personnel
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

College

  • Scope of work and the future of family practice
  • Portée de la pratique et l’avenir de la médecine de famille
  • Building a family medicine movement
Show more College

Cumulative Profile

  • Scope of work and the future of family practice
  • Building a family medicine movement
  • Addressing family physician shortages
Show more Cumulative Profile

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
  • Collections - English
  • Collections - Française

For Authors

  • Authors and Reviewers
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Permissions
  • Terms of Use

General Information

  • About CFP
  • About the CFPC
  • Advertisers
  • Careers & Locums
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Subscribers

Journal Services

  • Email Alerts
  • Twitter
  • RSS Feeds

Copyright © 2022 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Powered by HighWire