College-Selected Activity

It is an activity that Physiotherapy Alberta selects and requires members to complete. This activity may be completed in the form of educational modules, self-assessments, knowledge tests, etc. Mandatory participation ensures a profession-wide collective and common understanding of a topic. For example, topics may include:

• Jurisprudence
• Measures for preventing sexual abuse and sexual misconduct
• Managing challenging situations
• Ethical decision-making

Topics are based on profession and public interest issues, practice standards and other rules governing physiotherapist practice. The topic will vary from year-to-year. Most years all members will complete the same activity  However, some years, when appropriate, members will be able to choose from a list of options.

The College-Selected Activity is always completed online.

You must complete the College-Selected Activity before you renew your practice permit.  

Physiotherapy Alberta will let you know when the College-Selected Activity is available for online completion and will provide access instructions and any details as to what is required.

When the College-Selected Activity is open for completion may vary from year to year. Physiotherapy Alberta will give members an adequate amount of time to complete the activity before renewing their practice permit.

2021 College-Selected Activity

Members on the General Register must complete the 2021 College-Selected Activity before they apply to renew their practice permit in August/September 2021. When you renew, you must declare that you’ve met the learning objectives.

Discrimination, Oppression and Inequity 

Discrimination, oppression, and inequity are pervasive in Canadian society and the Canadian health system. While people with many distinct identity factors experience discrimination and oppression, the result of this discrimination consistently includes negative health outcomes, up to and including limited access to health services and reduced life expectancy.

The 2021 College-Selected Activity requires you to demonstrate your actions to DO. LEARN. GROW. your knowledge and competence regarding the effects of discrimination, oppression and inequity on people seeking health services.

LEARN (Objectives)

After completing the CSA activities, you:

1. Know the meaning of key terms including bias/implicit bias, discrimination, equality and equity, intersectionality, oppression, prejudice, and privilege.
2. Have a basic understanding of how privilege, oppression, and intersectionality affect:
   1. The lives of your patients,
   2. Your interactions with patients, and
   3. Health service delivery to members of historically marginalized communities at the systems level.
3. Understand what implicit bias is, have considered your implicit biases, and understand how your implicit biases affect your interactions with patients and others when left unchallenged.

DO

1. Watch:

This 90-minute presentation is an introductory guide to provide a starting point to learn about equity, diversity, and inclusion. This presentation provides a broad overview of awareness of EDI issues and engagement practices that support a climate of equity and inclusion within health-care settings.

Date and Time - July 28, 2021, 8:00 a.m.

Speaker: Dr. William Yimbo, PhD, MA, BA

Click here to register/watch.

Note: The webinar will be available on demand for individuals not able to attend the live presentation.

2. Read:

Physiotherapy Alberta’s Understanding Discrimination, Oppression, and Inequity in Physiotherapy.

3. Read:

Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege – Unpacking the Invisible Backpack and complete the privilege questionnaire contained in the article available at: https://uucsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/White-Privilege-Unpacking-the-Invisible-Knapsack.pdf

4. Complete

A minimum of 2 Harvard Project Implicit Social Attitudes Bias tests, available at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html (read the info provided, and click "I wish to Proceed")

GROW

After reviewing the resources, take a few minutes to consider, either on your own or with your colleagues, how this information informs your behaviours and your practice. We acknowledge that these conversations are often uncomfortable and depending on the context of your practice and your past experiences, having these discussions with peers may be difficult, threatening or potentially harmful. Where possible, we encourage you to discuss these topics with a trusted peer. As an alternate you can choose to discuss the topic with an individual from outside the practice environment. 

We’ve given you some guiding questions to help you get started:

1. How do privilege and oppression affect the lives of your patients? Can you think of a patient of yours for whom their status as either privileged or oppressed has affected their access to care and their health outcomes? In what ways did this occur?
2. Were you surprised by the items included in the privilege questionnaire from Peggy McIntosh’s article? What other indicators of privilege would you add to the list provided in the article based on your own experiences?
3. What was one thing you learned about yourself from completing the Harvard implicit bias tests? How will you use this information to adjust your interactions with patients?

Additional resources to support your learning

• Stephanie Nixon: The Coin Model of Privilege and Critical Allyship: Implications for Health. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7884-9  
• Robin DiAngelo: Deconstructing White Privilege.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54
• Kimberlé Crenshaw: On Intersectionality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DW4HLgYPlA

2020 College-Selected Activity

Members on the General Register must complete the 2020 College-Selected Activity before they apply to renew their practice permit in August/September 2020. When you renew, you must declare that you’ve met the learning objectives.

Infection prevention and control in the context of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged Alberta’s physiotherapists in unprecedented ways. Physiotherapy Alberta respects that regulated members have done much to learn about and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 College-Selected Activity requires you to demonstrate your actions to DO. LEARN. GROW. your COVID-19 and infection prevention control knowledge and competence.

LEARN	Learning objectives: After reviewing the practice resources, you know: The personal, administrative, engineered and elimination measures to control the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. How to apply these measures within your practice context to limit the spread of COVID-19. How to respond if experiencing signs or symptoms of respiratory illness. How to react if you encounter a patient exhibiting signs or symptoms of respiratory illness or reporting risks related to COVID-19.
DO	Review the following practice resources: Infection Control Standard of Practice Infection Prevention and Control Guide Guidance for Resuming Physiotherapy Practice during a Pandemic
GROW	After reviewing the resources, take a few minutes to consider, either on your own or with your colleagues, how this information informs your behaviours and your practice. We’ve given you some guiding questions to help you get started: Infection Control Standard of Practice How are my colleagues and I trained in infection prevention and control practices? What infection prevention and control best practices are applicable to our practice setting? Infection Prevention and Control Guide What infection transmission risks exist in our practice setting, and how can we break the chain of transmission? How consistent are our hand hygiene practices with the World Health Organizations’ “5 Moments of Hand Hygiene” and how could we improve our adherence? What administrative and engineered controls do we have in place to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and how well are they working? Guidance for Resuming Physiotherapy Practice during a Pandemic How has patient pre-appointment screening been working and what changes might be needed to make sure that patients, physiotherapists, and other staff work together to limit the spread of COVID-19? What are the challenges of staff daily self-monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms, and what supports are needed to maintain efforts to identify symptoms and staying home when ill? Are there risks unique to our practice that we need to manage (e.g., patient population, staff health, other)? Are there measures that we need to consider adding or eliminating to manage the risks of COVID-19 in our practice? Optional resources to support your learning Physiotherapy Alberta’s College Conversations Podcast Episode 13 – Making Lasting Changes in the Wake of COVID-19 FAQ: Masks and Physiotherapy

Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct: what members need to know

Members on the General Register must complete the 2019 College-Selected Activity before they apply to renew their practice permit in August/September 2019. When you renew, you must declare that you’ve met the learning objectives.

LEARN	Learning objectives: After reading and considering the resources Physiotherapy Alberta developed, you know: “Who is a patient” as defined by the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard of Practice. Why and how the standard of practice and guides for protecting patients from sexual abuse or misconduct are relevant to your practice.
DO	Read: Resources Physiotherapy Alberta developed to protect you and your patients: Who is a patient? Standard of Practice: Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Introducing the New Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard of Practice: Who is a Patient? Protecting patients from sexual abuse or misconduct A Guide for Patients: What can patients expect from their physiotherapist A Guide for Physiotherapists: Expectations for physiotherapists Watch: College-Selected Activity: Understanding Bill 21, An Act to Protect Patients.
GROW	After you’ve read the resources, take a few minutes to consider, either on your own or with co-workers, how this information informs your behaviors within your practice environment.  We’ve given you some guiding questions. Standard of Practice: Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Do you understand when an individual you have treated would be considered to still be your patient, even though you have not seen them for treatment recently? Are there situations where you encounter patients, as defined by the Standard, in social situations? What steps might you take to mitigate any risks that such encounters may pose to you? Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse or Misconduct: expectations for physiotherapists (A Guide) Were you surprised by the reported prevalence of sexual abuse in Canada? How will this knowledge affect how you interact with patients or others in the clinical environment? Looking back on past patient interactions, can you think of a time when a patient did not react as expected to something you said or did in the context of physiotherapy care? Could a patient history of sexual abuse explain the patient’s reactions? What would you do differently if faced with the situation again? Are there activities you engage in in your clinical practice which could re-traumatize a patient who is a survivor of sexual abuse? With this realization, how will you modify your approach to avoid re-traumatizing your future patients? Protecting Patients from Sexual Abuse or Misconduct: what can patients expect from their physiotherapist (A Guide) What factors in your practice contribute to the power imbalance between you and your patients? What do you do to try to minimize the imbalance?   What strategies could you implement to make your patients feel less vulnerable, and thereby minimize the power imbalance between patient and physiotherapist? Are there clinical practices that you engage in that could be misinterpreted by a patient? What steps have you taken to ensure that the physiotherapy purpose of these activities is clear to the patient and that you have the patient’s consent to engage in the activity?

When is the College-Selected Activity available for completion?

Physiotherapy Alberta aims to launch the DO. LEARN. GROW. College-Selected Activity in late spring early summer. The launch date will vary every year.

When the College-Selected Activity is posted an email notification is also sent to General Register members. The notification introduces the topic, outlines what must be done, and specifies the completion success criteria. Physiotherapy Alberta’s monthly will also feature articles related to the College-Selected Activity. Throughout the renewal period, the newsletter provides information to support physiotherapists understanding of and participation in College-Selected activity

I am registered on the General Register but not working. Do I need to complete the College-Selected Activity?

Yes. Regulated members on the General Register must participate in the Continuing Competence Program requirements whether they are practicing or not. This includes clinicians, administrators, educators, and researchers.

I plan to cancel my registration on October 1, do I have to complete the College-Selected Activity?

Yes. Participation in the College-Selected Activity is required for the year you are registered; therefore, it is to be completed while you are registered. Before you cancel your registration, consider checking with the College’s competence staff (competence@physiotherapyalberta.ca) to ensure that you understand the success and completion/reporting requirements. When you reinstate your registration, Physiotherapy Alberta’s Registration Department will ensure that you have met the requirements for the Activity of the year that you were last registered.

Will my College-Selected Activity submissions be reviewed?

Yes. Each year at least 10% of submissions are reviewed by Physiotherapy Alberta staff to ensure General Register members have successfully completed the College-Selected Activity. The success criteria will vary based on the topic and format of the activity.

For years when completion is demonstrated by a declaration of meeting the learning objectives, the review is to confirm the regulated member answered the declaration appropriately.

Must I complete both the Self-Selected Activity and the College–Selected Activity each year?

Yes. The DO. LEARN. GROW Continuing Competence Program is comprised of both a Self-Selected Activity and a College-Selected Activity. Both must be successfully completed annually. Completion is a requirement for ongoing registration with Physiotherapy Alberta. If for any reason you are having difficulty meeting the completion requirements for either the College-Selected or Self-Selected Activity contact Competence Staff. Staff will help you to develop a plan for activity completion so that you are able to meet the practice permit renewal requirements.