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Answers to frequently asked questions on Cycle 11 quality assurance requirements
- January 11, 2018
RMTs are now more than half way through CMTBC’s two-year quality assurance (QA) Cycle 11. RMTs have until the end of the cycle – October 31, 2018 – to complete QA requirements. The Quality Assurance section of this website contains detailed information on those requirements. CMTBC has also prepared the following answers to frequently asked questions on Cycle 11 QA requirements:
Q: Why is it called Cycle 11?
A: Cycle 11 is the eleventh, two-year reporting cycle in effect since CMTBC started a QA program that is based on reporting CECs. All RMTs are currently in Cycle 11, which runs from November 1, 2016 to October 31, 2018. In the future, there may be changes to the name and the format of the reporting structure.
Q: How many CECs do I need?
A: It depends on your status. Here’s a chart that summarizes CEC requirements:
RMT CEC requirements in Cycle 11 (November 1, 2016 to October 31, 2018)
| Status | Total CECs required | CMTBC CECs required | Options for remainder |
| Active all of Cycle 11 or for 12 months or more in Cycle 11 | 24 | 10 | 14, can be practical education (PE) or professional development (PD) |
| Active for less than 12 months in Cycle 11 | 12 | 10 | 2, can be PE or PD |
| Inactive for all of Cycle 11 | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Inactive for more than half of Cycle 11 | 12 | 10 | 2, can be PE or PD |
| Inactive for less than half of Cycle 11, active for the remainder | 24 | 10 | 14, can be PE or PD |
| New RMT, registered for the first time with CMTBC in the first year of Cycle 11, before November 1, 2017 | 24 | 10 | 14, can be PE or PD |
| New RMT, registered for the first time with CMTBC in the second year of Cycle 11, on or after November 1, 2017 | 0 | 0 | n/a |
Detailed information on CECs is also in CMTBC’s Bylaws, Section 63.2.
Q: Is there a catalogue available of “hands-on” practical education courses that I can take?
A: CMTBC either approves or denies continuing education credits for courses offered by external providers. Courses that meet our criteria for approval appear on the Approved Continuing Education Activities List. However, the list is not a catalogue of available courses – it’s a list of courses that have been approved by CMTBC’s Quality Assurance Committee for RMTs to report CECs. Some of the courses may have already been held and are not being repeated; others may be happening in parts of the world where you can’t attend them.
There are many ways that RMTs find courses that interest them: asking colleagues, professional associations, and educators they have studied with in the past, and through the web and social media. CMTBC’s Approved Activities List includes contact information so you can contact the instructor and find out if the course will be offered in the next few months.
Whatever you do, make sure you complete your CECs by the end of Cycle 11, October 31, 2018. If you have a course in mind and it’s not on the Approved list, check if it meets the criteria for approval, and apply for course approval using fillable forms available on our website. CMTBC recommends you apply for course approval prior to taking a course, to ensure you are not disappointed in the outcome of the approval process if a course you have completed is not approved.
Q: Can I transfer extra CECs from a previous cycle, or move some of this year’s extra CECs to the next cycle?
A: No. CMTBC Bylaws clearly state that RMTs complete the requirements within a two-year reporting cycle.
Q: How do I enroll in CMTBC online courses?
A: Everything you need to know to successfully complete CMTBC’s online courses is in a video on online courses that CMTBC has prepared, which includes information on enrolling in courses. To enroll in a CMTBC-authored course, log in to the Registrant Portal, click “Continuing Education (CE)” in the menu at the left, and then click “Register for CMTBC Courses”. Here you’ll select your course and pay the fee, which will enroll you into the course. On completion, your credits will automatically be added to your registrant record.
Completion of a San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training course also results in CMTBC CECs. See CMTBC Online Courses for more information about the San’yas course. If you choose to take this course, you will enroll directly via the San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training, Provincial Health Services Authority website, on the registration page for the course. After you complete the course, send your completion certificate to CMTBC, and the College will add completed CECs to the CMTBC credit category of your continuing education activities. To see a summary of your current continuing education progress, log in to the Registrant Portal, click “Continuing Education (CE)” in the menu at the left, and then click “Report CE Activities”. After you complete the course, upload your completion certificate by using the “Report Completed CMTBC Course” button.
Q: I failed one of CMTBC’s mandatory online courses. Why do I have to pay $60 again to repeat the course?
A: CMTBC charges the $60 fee to cover the administrative costs of enrolling an individual in an online course. Online education is not like a brick-and-mortar classroom where an extra person can join a classroom with the instructor and materials already provided. There is a cost associated with enrolling a person in a course, each time an individual is enrolled. This is true if you are repeating the same course, or enrolling for a different course. Your registration fees cover the license cost of the learning management system, and the cost of developing curriculum for the online courses. Individual enrolment is charged per course, in anticipation of CMTBC providing a wide selection of resources on the learning platform. In the future, RMTs will be able to select courses they want (or need) to complete, and pay a fee just for those courses.
Q: I don’t have time to repeat a course I failed. Any suggestions?
A: Online learning is not passive. Just like any learning, you need to engage and reflect on how the material relates to your practice. Click on every link and every interactive tool in the course, and read the material carefully. When questions are presented in the course and you’re asked to reflect, take the time to do so. While some RMTs complete the courses in a few hours, others take their time over a week or more to complete a course module whenever they have quiet time to do so. We suggest you take your time going through a course the first time, and create time to review it quickly before you do the exam. The exams ask that you reflect on practice situations and apply what you learned in the course. They’re not memory-based questions; you’re asked to solve everyday types of clinical issues.
Q: I’m not a social media user. Why would I take the Social Media Awareness online course?
A: One of the goals of the Social Media Awareness course relates to protection of personal information – particularly that of your patients. While you may not be a social media user, chances are high that your colleagues, members of your family and social circle, and your patients use social media. As a health care professional, it is your obligation to be aware of the need to protect personal information and to understand how vulnerable patient information is to inadvertent sharing via social media. Even though you don’t use social media, every time you share information about your patients in conversation or through health records, the potential exists for broader sharing. You need to be aware of that potential, of the vulnerability of the patients in your care, and that it is your responsibility to ensure that personal information is protected.
The Social Media Awareness course reviews provincial legislation that addresses privacy concerns of personal information. The course also asks that you consider professionalism, and how you situate yourself and your profession through the use of social media. Although you might not use social media for clinical purposes or for advertising your practice, your public persona includes the fact you are a health professional. You need to be aware of how your social media presence – generated by others as well as yourself – reflects on you, your profession, and on your patients.
Q: CMTBC only has two online courses available, and I took one of them in Cycle 10. Do I have to (or can I) repeat it for Cycle 11 CECs?
A: You have options. There will be a third CMTBC-authored course available in Spring 2018, on boundaries. You could wait for this course to be available. Alternatively, you could enroll in a course developed and offered by San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training, Provincial Health Services Authority Aboriginal Health Program. CMTBC’s Quality Assurance Committee values the San’yas course and the work of the Aboriginal Health Program of the Provincial Health Services Authority, and recognizes its importance to regulatory priorities including cultural awareness and sensitive practice. If you want to repeat a CMTBC-authored online course you took for CECs in Cycle 10 when the learning platform was newly launched, you may do so in Cycle 11, and review the material.
Q: I’d like to take the San’yas online course, on indigenous cultural competency training, as one of the CMTBC courses. Why is it more expensive than the other two courses?
A: CMTBC is fortunate to be able to offer the San’yas course. It is a third-party course, developed by the Provincial Health Services Authority’s (PHSA) aboriginal health program. The course cost is set by the PHSA. CMTBC does not control the pricing of this course or derive any revenue from it. Unlike CMTBC’s online courses that are available on demand, the San’yas course has pre-determined start times because it is facilitated to ensure that course-takers have access to resources and people who can answer their questions about the course content. Eric Wredenhagen, CMTBC’s Registrar & CEO completed the course last year and gave it a glowing review.
Q: I completed a CMTBC online course and I don’t see the CECs listed in my account. What happened?
A: It takes a bit of time for the Brightspace learning platform used by CMTBC to transfer information to our Helsby Drake information and database system. Although it’s automatic, it’s not immediate. Please be patient and allow up to a day for your CECs to be uploaded to your record in the Registrant Portal.
Q: What happens after Cycle 11 is finished?
A: Cycle 12 will run from November 1, 2018 to October 31, 2020. It will share the basic framework of the current cycle. CMTBC is in the early stages of building the next generation QA program. Stay tuned for announcements on what it will look like. Until 2020, it’s ‘business as usual’, with some fine-tuning of criteria for approval of CECs.
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