Practice Development

Registrants/Quality Assurance/Practice Development

Introduction

RMTs meet and demonstrate entry-to-practice competencies when they first become registered with CMTBC and continue to maintain and enhance those practice competencies as they progress in their careers. RMTs are individually responsible and accountable for their ongoing practice development and maintenance of practice competence over time.

Practice competence means a combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, and clinical judgements that are necessary to practice massage therapy, within the scope of practice for RMTs. Practice competence is based on the core professional and practice competencies of the profession. The application of these core professional and practice competencies is transferable across diverse practice environments and patient populations.

As an RMT matures in their practice, they will not only maintain professional and practice competencies at a base level, but will continue to develop and improve their professional and practice competencies over the course of their career.

Within the redesigned Quality Assurance program, RMTs will engage in a yearly cycle of practice development. This cycle is based on the core competencies of the profession. It will begin with completion of a self-assessment tool, followed by development of a learning plan, execution of registrant-directed learning activities, and reflection on the impact those activities have had on achieving learning plan goals set by the RMT. It also includes completion of a CMTBC-directed learning activity.

The diagram below depicts the yearly cycle that RMTs will complete as part of the practice development component of the redesigned Quality Assurance program:

Completion of the yearly cycle is a registration renewal requirement for 2025. The renewal period for 2025 will begin on November 1, 2024 and end on December 31, 2024. This means that 2024 is the first year that registrants will complete the new yearly cycle, commencing completion of requirements in January 2024.

An RMT who initially becomes registered or changes from Non-Practising to Practising status will not be required to complete practice development requirements for the year in which they became a Practising RMT. This requirement will be in effect the following year for those registrants.

Self-assessment

The use of a self-assessment tool as part of the Quality Assurance program will give RMTs the opportunity to reflect on their individual practice and their ability to apply professional and practice competencies.

The online self-assessment tool will contain questions about the various core competencies integral to massage therapy practice. These competencies fall within several different categories, which include: communication; equity, diversity, and inclusion; Indigenous cultural safety and humility; CMTBC Bylaws, Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics; patient care; and practice knowledge. As an RMT completes the self-assessment questions, they will be asked to reflect upon different statements that engage different professional and practice competencies. After completing the self-assessment, RMTs will receive a summary of their responses.

An RMT’s self-assessment will only be reviewed by the College to ensure completion of Quality Assurance requirements.

Learning plan

After an RMT has completed the self-assessment, the next task for the RMT will be to create an individualized learning plan.

The learning plan process will include:

Using the self-assessment summary to identify competencies that are open to improvement.
Development of specific learning plans goals, related to the identified competencies that are open to improvement, and the RMT’s individual practice development path.
Identification of learning activities that an RMT can participate in to achieve their learning plan goals.

RMTs will be able to complete and review their learning plan through an online platform.

Learning activities

Registrant-directed learning activity

One of the challenges with self-directed learning is that it can be difficult to determine what to focus on, or what course an RMT should take to positively impact their practice. Unfortunately, this can lead to RMTs engaging in learning activities just because they are required to do so, with little thought given to the activity’s impact on their practice. This could mean missed opportunities for an RMT to learn and grow in their practice and could ultimately impact their safe and effective delivery of care to patients.

By considering the information contained in the summary of their self-assessment, an RMT will be better able to identify opportunities for growth in their practice. This will support the RMT in identifying more specific and meaningful learning plan goals, and ultimately selecting relevant, practice-focused, and meaningful registrant-directed learning activities.

Completion of one or more registrant-directed learning activities, selected by the RMT, will be a requirement each year for registration renewal. An RMT will be able to engage in registrant-directed learning activities throughout the year, most commonly in between completion of their learning plan (by March) and the end of October each year. Completion of the self-assessment, learning plan, and registrant-directed learning activities is a requirement for registration renewal.

Acceptable registrant-directed learning activities include:

Conferences.
Continuing education courses.
College or university courses.
Completion of previous CMTBC online courses and/or review of CMTBC Standards of Practice, Bylaws, and Notices to the Profession.
Participation in study groups, practice networks, etc.
Critical appraisal of research articles in practice publications and scholarly journals.

When selecting and completing registrant-directed learning activities, RMTs will be individually responsible for ensuring that any modality or skill-based training they wish to complete and incorporate into their practice is within the scope of practice for massage therapy in BC, as defined by the Massage Therapists Regulation.

CMTBC-directed learning activity

Each year, Practising RMTs will be required to complete a CMTBC-directed learning activity as a requirement for registration renewal.

The required CMTBC-directed learning activity will change from year to year based on needs identified by CMTBC across the profession, including the introduction of a new Standard of Practice.

An example of a CMTBC-directed learning activity is a CMTBC-authored online course. These courses provide information on legislation and the College’s Bylaws, practice standards, legislation, and Code of Ethics, as well as other requirements specific to massage therapy practice. The courses are designed to support an RMT’s ability to make decisions that align with practice standards, ethical standards, and other regulatory requirements.

RMTs will be able to complete the required CMTBC-directed learning activity at any time from January to October each year (a total period of 10 months).

Further information regarding the self-assessment, learning plan, and learning activities will be provided throughout 2023. CMTBC thanks RMTs for their patience as continued development and consultation continues.

For more information

Questions? Please see the Quality Assurance Frequently Asked Questions page or email [email protected] with the subject line “Self-Assessment and Learning Plan”.