Revised guidance and resources for collegial relationships

The Medical Council of New Zealand (Council) recently undertook a review of the nature and effectiveness of collegial relationships for doctors who require this as part of their recertification programme.

Council considered the needs of all doctors requiring a collegial relationship including:

  • Doctors registered in a general scope of practice (general registrants are required to participate in the Inpractice programme administered by bpacnz).
  • Doctors working outside their vocational scope of practice.
  • Doctors whose practice of medicine is deemed so low risk that they do not need to participate in a recertification programme but are required to establish a collegial relationship.

The review was focused on improving the quality of the collegial relationship, clarifying expectations and strengthening engagement.

Following the review, Council approved a number of recommendations to strengthen collegial relationships for these groups of doctors. These recommendations included:

  • Updating the information and resources on Council’s website regarding collegial relationships.
  • Providing structured guidance for collegial relationship meetings to improve the quality and consistency of meetings and place increased emphasis on the collegial relationship provider’s role in supporting a doctor’s ongoing professional development.
  • Making improvements to the collegial relationship meeting record (CPD2) to encourage reflection and improve the quality of the Professional Development Plan (PDP).
  • Introducing a new ‘PDP Review and Development Guide’ with advice on developing goals.

These updated resources should replace those you might currently be using and are available on Council’s website at:

https://www.mcnz.org.nz/maintain-registration/recertification-and-professional-development/

Following implementation of these changes, as part of continual business improvement processes, over time Council intends to review the collegial relationship again to consider if the changes made have been effective.