The College’s branches were originally established to provide members opportunities for education, networking and discussion. Amendments to the Health Professions Act (HPA) introduced by Bill 46 require that the College only carry out professional regulatory duties in the public interest, which has a direct impact on branches. The object of branches as stated in the bylaws was to “provide members with a forum for discussion, professional development and networking.”

In June 2021, Council carefully reviewed the legislation and received legal advice and determined that because branches operate solely to provide member-centric professional development opportunities, they must be dissolved by the time the HPA amendments come into force. Based on timelines provided by the Alberta government and input from the branch executives, Council decided to allow branches to continue to operate for more than a year to give them time to plan more events for their members if they chose to do so. The College’s bylaws were updated to reflect that branches would be dissolved as of July 1, 2022.

The branches have now been dissolved and any funds remaining in their accounts will be returned to the College. Complete information on the funds received from the branches and decisions regarding these funds made by Council will be published openly and transparently on the College website and in our 2022 annual report.

The College recognizes and appreciates all the hard work the branch chairs and their executives have put in over the years. Thank you for demonstrating a commitment to advancing your profession by facilitating opportunities for you and your peers to learn and share knowledge.

As the College continues to take steps to comply with the changes introduced by Bill 46, we will share regular updates about our status. To learn more and view all updates, please visit the Response to Bill 46 page.

The 2021-22 Continuing Competence Program (CCP) cycle ends on August 31. Regulated members who hold general registration are required to participate in the CCP and complete their annual reflective practice review in the My CCP platform by this date.

The College often receives questions from members about how to properly complete their CCP, so we’ve included a brief overview of the program components in this article and highlighted some of the common areas where members run into issues.

For more information, please see the Continuing Competence section of the College website or the 2021-22 Continuing Competence Program Information Guide. If you ever have any questions about the CCP or need any assistance, please feel welcome to reach out to Linda O’Hara, Director, Education and Competence, at lohara@acmdtt.com or 780.487.6130 ext. 526.

Overview

During every CCP cycle (September 1 to August 31 of the following year), members who hold general registration at any point during the cycle must complete a reflective practice review. A reflective practice review consists of three components:

• Self-Assessment
• Learning Plan
• Learning Activities

All three components must be completed in order for a member’s CCP to be considered complete for the cycle. The progress indicator on the left sidebar in My CCP displays the current overall status of your reflective practice review on the main page and the status of the individual components on each of those individual pages.

Self-Assessment

The Self-Assessment is designed to assist you to personally reflect on your practice strengths and to identify potential areas for continued or new learning. In this section, you will first need to complete or update your practice profile. You will then review all indicators from the College’s Standards of Practice to evaluate whether or not you perform or support others in performing each one and choose two areas of focus for your learning plan.

In order to complete your Self-Assessment:

• Select a response for each indicator.
• Select at least two indicators for which you would like to enhance your knowledge.
• Ensure chosen indicators reside in at least two different Standard Areas (out of five).

Learning Plan

The Learning Plan is meant to guide your learning activities for the CCP cycle by requiring you to identify areas of learning based on your Self-Assessment. You will need to create two learning objectives that include the associated Standard indicator and possible learning activities. If you have already completed your Self-Assessment and selected indicators for which you would like to enhance your knowledge, that information will be pre-populated into your Learning Plan.

In order to complete your Learning Plan:

• Create at least two objectives.
• Complete all three fields in each objective.
• Indicate in at least one of your learning activity records that the activity supports one of your learning objectives.

The last step isn’t completed when you initially create your Learning Plan, so please ensure you remember to select “This activity supports an objective in my Personal Leaning Plan” for at least one of your learning activities when logging your records.

Learning Activities

The final component of a reflective practice review is completing and logging learning activities. All learning you undergo as a technologist that is linked to your profession may be counted towards your CCP requirements. Members are required to complete a minimum of two learning hours for every month they hold general registration, which works out to 24 learning hours for members who hold general registration for the entire cycle.

There are three types of forms you can use to log your learning activities: Single Learning Records, Multisource Learning Records and Multi-Session Learning Event Records. Whichever form you use, please remember to hit the “Save” button once you’ve entered your data! While each form has slightly different fields, they all have one common element that is the basis of a reflective practice review: the self-reflection.

Self-reflection is where you explain how what you learned has impacted your professional practice as an MRT or ENP. When writing your self-reflection, briefly describe what you learned and explain how it will benefit you in your practice, or describe, very specifically, how the learning has been used for a particular patient case, protocol or other department application. Remember to respect patient confidentiality at all times.

Learning Resources

A list of potential sources of learning can be found on the Learning Resources page along with a list of activities that are considered unsatisfactory and a list of activities that are satisfactory with time restrictions. Any learning activity can be used for your CCP provided you can appropriately self-reflect on how it has had an impact on your professional practice.

For example, reading this newsletter or others like it can count for up to one hour of learning per issue, and completing the SkilSure tutorial in My CCP can count for up to half an hour per cycle. College courses like the Regulatory Education Module and the new learning modules can each be used for up to four hours of learning per cycle.

The College is committed to providing regulatory education opportunities for our members to enhance their understanding of how health regulation ties into their everyday practice. We are currently in the process of creating online learning modules on a variety of topics with the content mapped to the College’s foundational documents, from the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics to legislation like the Health Professions Act and Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologists Profession Regulation.

The first two modules are now available! These modules are part of a series created in collaboration with the Alberta College of Combined Laboratory and X-Ray Technologists (ACCLXT), the College and Association of Respiratory Therapists of Alberta (CARTA) and the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Alberta (CMLTA). The modules that are now available explore the topics of professional communication and professional boundaries, and there are two more modules in this series that we plan to release this summer relating to patient consent and professionalism and social media.

Regulated members can claim up to 4 learning hours per Continuing Competence Program (CCP) cycle for each module. We encourage regulated members to explore these modules together in groups to enhance their learning by sharing their experiences and engaging in thoughtful discussion of the material as they go through them. Please note that your progress in the module will not be saved if you exit your browser; however, you can access the module as often as you want.

For more information and to access the modules, please see the Learning Modules page. If you have any questions about the learning modules, please feel welcome to contact Linda O’Hara, Director, Education and Competence, at lohara@acmdtt.com.

Connor and Lana are about to begin working at a clinic. Connor is enrolled in a medical radiation technology program and is currently in the clinical practicum portion of his program. Lana has just graduated from a medical radiation technology program but has not yet passed the entry-to-practice examination.

What are the College-mandated conditions of their employment?

Students do not need to be registered with the College to complete their practicums. As a student, Connor is a “non-regulated worker.” A non-regulated worker is permitted to perform restricted activities referred to in the Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologists Profession Regulation (the Regulation), sections 14 to 18, as part of a clinical practicum with the consent of and under the supervision of a preceptor who holds general registration. Connor can verify the registration status of a proposed preceptor on the College’s Public Register.

The preceptor is required to provide direct supervision to Connor. Direct supervision means that the preceptor is required to remain within audible distance and available for immediate physical assistance while Connor is performing restricted activities. Availability by electronic devices is not acceptable.

Lana will also require supervision as a condition of her employment; however, she is subject to different requirements. Lana is required to hold a temporary practice permit with the College in order to work as a medical radiation technologist before writing the entry-to-practice exam. She should submit an application for temporary registration to the College as soon as she receives an offer of employment and cannot begin work until her application has been approved. Once the College has verified that Lana has successfully completed her education program and met all registration requirements, Lana will be issued a temporary practice permit. Any member of the public can look up Lana’s registration through the Public Register as soon as it is issued.

Lana will have access to the full scope of practice once she holds temporary registration; however, she must be under the supervision of another regulated member when performing restricted activities as a condition of her registration. Where an appropriate regulated member of this college is not available to supervise her, Lana may seek approval from the College to receive supervision by a regulated healthcare professional from another college who is authorized by their regulatory body to perform the restricted activity that is being supervised.

The supervising regulated healthcare professional is required to provide indirect supervision, which means they must remain readily available for physical assistance while Lana is performing restricted activities. Availability by electronic devices is not acceptable. While Connor must always be directly accompanied by his preceptor when performing restricted activities as a student, Lana may perform restricted activities on her own provided a regulated member is nearby and readily available if she requires assistance.

As with all regulated members, members with temporary practice permits must restrict themselves to performing only those restricted activities that they are competent to perform and that are appropriate to their areas of practice and the procedures being performed.

Regulated members of the College need to practice in compliance with legislation and other documents such as Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics. The following standards and statements apply to this scenario.

Standards of Practice

Standard 3.2 Leadership

To demonstrate this Standard, a regulated member will:

• a. Support and promote the profession (e.g., mentoring, interprofessional collaboration, team contribution, public education).
• b. Facilitate the sharing of professional knowledge with students, colleagues, patients and the public (e.g., preceptorships, presentations, journal clubs, public information sessions).
• d. Follow College requirements related to the supervision of students or any regulated members required to practice under supervision.

Code of Ethics

Principle 3 – Responsibility to oneself

• b. Accountability – A regulated member takes responsibility and is accountable for their professional activities.

There are many documents that help guide a regulated member’s practice. View these documents on our Resources page or use the Decision-Making Tool to work through a specific scenario.

Y.X. Tay, Y.-M. Wei and L. Chong

Regulatory links: Standards of Practice 1.2 (e, j, k, m), 2.1 (a, f, h), 2.2 (a, b), 2.6 (a, c, d), 3.1 (a, b, c, d), 3.2 (a, b, d), 4.2 (h, k, n); Code of Ethics 1 (a, c, e), 2 (c, f, h), 3 (a, b)

Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences.

On May 14, the College hosted our second Regulatory Education Symposium, a free virtual event that featured learning sessions on topics that were mapped to the College’s foundational documents like the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics.

Based on feedback we received about the first event back in October, we decided to make our second Regulatory Education Symposium a one-day event featuring shorter presentations. The topics of the presentations included interfacility transfers in diagnostic imaging, how medical technologists impact patients and families, intergenerational trauma, and the College’s Continuing Competence Program.

A total of 278 people attended the second symposium, and overall the feedback we received was very positive. We plan to continue hosting two symposiums a year going forward, with October 22, 2022, set as the tentative date for the next symposium. More information about the previous events can be found on the Regulatory Education Symposium page.