College Connection | Page 8

college connection STAY CURRENT Coming Soon — Professional Practice Portal ONLINE AREA FOR LICENSED MEMBERS The College continues to take advantage of technology to improve communication with licensed members and provide new opportunities for sharing resources. This fall, the College is excited to launch its Professional Practice Portal for use by licensed members. The Professional Practice Portal will present a self-service area for licensed members to access resources and update information, engage in Quality Practice activities and also participate in online discussions with one another and the College. The College is a public organization, committed to transparency. Forms and applications housed in the portal may be duplicated on the public side of the College website, however, the portal is designed for licensed members’ ease of use. You will be able to access resources, including online forms, efficiently through the portal. Through the Professional Practice Portal, you will be able to: • complete your online licence renewal form; • apply online to host temporary facilities; • log your CPD activities; • contribute to an online discussion community with your veterinary colleagues; • access Quality Practice materials; and • update your contact information and professional profile. All licensed members will be provided with a portal account, when the portal is launched. The College looks forward to providing licensed members with a new opportunity to communicate with the College. Watch for more information in the coming weeks on the Professional Practice Portal! New CPD Activity Log As part of its work in the development of the College’s Quality Assurance Program, the Quality Assurance Committee has reviewed the structure of the current Continuing Professional Development Portal with a view to increasing its utility for veterinarians. The current portal is used by less than 4% of the profession. This, combined with feedback that the College has received concerning the current CPD portal, suggest there is an opportunity to develop a tool that is more widely used by the profession. Consequently, the Quality Assurance Committee is overseeing the development of a sim plified tool that supports the recording and reporting of CPD activities. This new CPD logging tool will be launched as part of the Professional Practice Portal and will be available for use for the 2016 CPD Reporting Year (Nov. 1, 2015 – Oct. 31, 2016). This more simplified tool will allow veterinarians to log CPD activities that they have completed, assign activity codes to each activity, and indicate learning outcomes. The tool will provide a summary of the total number of hours logged for each activity type, and this information will be pre-populated on the online Annual Renewal Form. The current CPD Portal tool remains available but will be retired following the 2016 Annual Licence Renewal period. College Connection is the official publication of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, informing members on regulatory issues, with the expectation that members will govern themselves accordingly. College Connection is charged with the responsibility of providing comprehensive, accurate and defensible information. College of Veterinarians of Ontario 2106 Gordon Street Guelph, Ontario N1L 1G6 Looking ahead ... 2015 Elections — The College will hold elections in two electoral districts this year. Those who live or work in electoral districts 2 or 11 will be eligible to seek election. Watch for nomination details! Online Forms for Temporary Facilities — Applying to host a temporary facility has never been easier. The College has introduced online forms to simplify the temporary facility application process. Forms currently available in the online format include: • Cardiac screening program • Conducting programs for the implantation of electronic identification devices in companion animals • Congenital deafness screening programs for companion animals • Ophthalmic screening program • Rabies vaccinations The new forms are found in the “Forms & Applications” section of the website under “Temporary Facilities”. Phone: [phone] Toll-free: 1-800-424-2856 Fax: [phone] Toll-free fax: [phone] [email protected] www.cvo.org Strengthening the veterinary profession through quality practice and public accountability. Editor: Jan Robinson Assistant to the Editor: Kim Huson Publication mail agreement number: 40583010 www.cvo.org