Fall/Winter 2011 - Alberta College of Paramedics

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emergency medical dialogue Guiding pro Positioning the Colleg Message from CEO/Reg 06 Driving through Edmonton recently, I spotted one of our eye-catching billboards. The compelling image, depicting actual Alberta practitioners responding to a person in need in an environment most people wouldn’t necessarily associate with emergency medical services, conveys a sense of calm and professionalism every time I see it. However, it was the ‘One symbol. One promise.’ statement on the billboard that got me thinking about the College’s promise to our over 9,000 registered practitioners. CEO report While our promise to the public is to ensure regulated professionals provide expert health care to Albertans when they need it, the College pledges to guide and support you and the profession. You may not have daily interaction with the College, but our annual operational goals in support of Council’s Strategic Plan directly impact your ability to care for your patients (see You and Your College on page 8). From setting the standards for paramedicine program approval and delivering provincial exams, to holding practitioners accountable through evolving competence standards and sound professional conduct processes required under the Health Professions Act (HPA), we are committed to ensuring you have the skills, knowledge and ethical judgment to provide the best care possible to your patients. By using words like ‘expert’, ‘registered’ and ‘trusted professional’ in our advertising, we aim to ingrain in the public consciousness that you and your peers are skilled, educated health care professionals. The images clearly depict practitioners providing emergency care in diverse work environments – a deliberate shift from the common perception of “ambulance driver.” In time, we believe the brand campaign will have the desired effect: greater understanding of the College’s important regulatory role while elevating our profession in the eyes of the public and our peers. 2012-2014 Operational Plan The College executive team recently completed its operational planning for the next three years to support Council’s 2012-2014 Strategic Plan. One of our key goals is a comprehensive information technology (IT) strategy including a complete review and analysis of all of our current information management and data management systems. A third-party consulting firm conducted an audit of the College’s entire IT infrastructure resulting in 19 recommendations. We’re now working to implement those recommendations – with priority being given to high-risk areas. It’s important to point out that this threeyear IT strategy is about much more than just CIMS. It involves all of our IT systems: data centre management, electronic data, hardware, software and support tools. While a more effective, reliable practitioner module is a definite outcome, the College must first build the necessary infrastructure to support CIMS or its replacement system. The long-term goal is enhanced processes and tools to improve how practitioners self-manage registration, online renewal and competence requirements, and to avoid system overload as we experienced at the start of renewal season. We appreciate your patience given the large, complex scope of this project. Fall/Winter 2011 // www.collegeofparamedics.org
emergency medical dialogue fessional growth e as a regulated health profession istrar Tammy Leach, BComm, HCA, EMT (Restricted) On the building front, we are reviewing several options for the College to purchase a building as leasing isn’t cost effective in the longterm. With our lease set to expire in 2013, we have close to a million dollars in the Council-approved ‘building fund’ to be used as a down payment. One of our operational goals is to ensure we have the best resources to conduct our business effectively and efficiently – this includes finding a suitable, permanent location. The next step is to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine the best purchase option for the College to better accommodate our administrative needs as a growing regulatory organization. Growth as a regulated profession I’m proud to report that we surpassed 9,000 registered practitioners this year – nearly double where we were less than 10 years ago! This registration milestone shows true promise for the profession and for the College in years to come as we work to achieve regulatory status under the HPA. As we enter the final month of registration renewal season, the College’s administrative support team continues to field daily inquiries from practitioners. Thank you for renewing as early as possible. This improves our ability to respond to your inquiries well in advance of the Dec. 31 deadline, and lowers our operating costs by reducing the number of cancellation notices mailed out in January. With 2011 being the first year for practitioners who registered or renewed “While our promise to the public is to ensure regulated professionals provide expert health care to Albertans when they need it, the College pledges to guide and support you and the profession.” in 2007 to complete their four-year learning plan requirements, the College experienced some valuable learning. Many of the glitches with respect to submitting your learning plans are being addressed in our current review of our IT systems and electronic support tools. Despite these difficulties, our attempt at open communication and transparent process seemed to mitigate the problems for affected practitioners and we appreciated your patience and professionalism during this important new initiative. In the meantime, our Professional Practice/Continuing Competence Manager, Tim Essington, is examining ways to improve the competence program and subsequent four-year learning plan process. You can expect more information on incoming enhancements prior to the 2013 renewal season. In all, 2011 has been a tremendously productive and successful year for the College. From the growing correspondence with practitioners around our exciting brand campaign, to relevant inquiries about how your renewal fees are being used, the College took some big steps this year to position the organization as a recognized and respected regulator of the profession. I encourage you to continue to ask us questions, hold us accountable and, whenever possible, lend your support to the College’s vital governance role. 07 Fall/Winter 2011 // www.collegeofparamedics.org
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