President’s Message
This organization’s work is centred on
ensuring that the services provided by doctors
are safe and effective. The wellbeing of
patients is paramount.
But we must also be aware of the context in
which doctors work and do what we can to
support them to provide the highest-quality
care possible to their patients.
Dr. David Rouselle
The launch of our opioid strategy in 2017 is
an example of our efforts to meet this dual
responsibility. One of the key objectives of this
wide-ranging strategy is to facilitate safe and
appropriate opioid prescribing by physicians.
When the College became aware in 2016
– through information received from the
Narcotics Monitoring System – of instances
of potentially inappropriate prescribing, we
investigated. But we also made it very clear
that we believed that prescribing opioids
under the right conditions is critical for good
patient care, and our goal was to ensure that
physicians have the resources and information
they need to appropriately prescribe opioids to
their patients.
The outcomes of our investigations
demonstrated that the College’s preferred
choice of action, in such instances, is to
support education and continued prescribing
with supervision.
We believe that education is key. Knowledge
can empower physicians to make informed
decisions about whether to initiate, modify,
continue, or cease opioid treatment for each
individual they treat. Physicians with a solid
understanding of opioid prescribing will
also ensure that those patients in need will
continue to have access to opioids.
By any measure, this was an exceedingly busy
year at the College. Throughout the past year,
we faced an unprecedented volume of cases
and significantly, an increase in the number of
complex and time-consuming investigations.
In the last year alone, Registrar’s
investigations have increased by 20%, bringing
the number to nearly 700. The College
continues to look carefully at all aspects of
our complaints process to ensure that we are
fulfilling our regulatory role effectively and
efficiently. Improving the efficiency of the
complaints process serves the interests of
CPSO ANNUAL REPORT 2017 // page 3