LOOKING AHEAD
T
his College possesses a vast
amount of data. We are uniquely
positioned as the repository of
information about every physician
who holds a licence to practise
in Ontario. Under the authority of the RHPA,
we collect information about where and when
they went to school; whether they’re keeping up
with CPD requirements; when their last peer
assessment was; how many complaints they’ve
received; whether they’ve been the subject of an
investigation or gone before the Discipline Com-
mittee, and what the result was.
But it’s one thing to collect a vast trove of data
on doctors; it’s another thing to use that data to
better serve our mandate to protect the public
and support physicians in their continuing com-
petence.
Currently, we use our large Information
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Technology systems to track the progress of dif-
ferent cases as they make their way through the
College’s processes. Over the past year, we have
begun to lay the foundations for a more rigorous,
principled approach to data collection and data
analysis. Our new Data and Analytics Strategy
Framework will allow us to organize the data
that we collect and use on a regular basis and
create a repository of clean and standardized data
sets where we can answer the questions: “Who,
What, When, Where, Why and What hap-
pened?” about physicians, from their registration
to retirement. We want to be able to use that in-
formation to help us make better decisions about
our programs and our work in general. The
vision of the strategy is to develop quality data
to inform decisions, support programs, improve
practice and maintain physician and public trust.
Let me provide an example to better illus-
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF ONTARIO
Dr. Rocco Gerace,
Registrar