REPORTS FROM COUNCIL
An article on the draft policy is on page 19.
New Governance Model for CNO
The College of Nurses of Ontario’s Council
has approved a vision for governance for
2020. In a presentation to CPSO Council,
Anne Coghlan, CEO and Executive Director
of the CNO, explains how the proposed re-
configured board will be better able to reflect
the public’s needs and interests. Please read
more on page 21.
• Opioid Investigations: In November
2016, based on information received from
the Narcotics Monitoring System (NMS),
the CPSO initiated investigations into the
opioid prescribing of 84 physicians. To date,
56 investigations have been completed and
28 investigations are still in progress.
The CPSO Opioid Position Statement be-
gins on page 27. The cover story is devoted to a
status update on the College’s investigations.
Services During Public Health
Emergencies
Council reviewed a draft policy entitled Phy-
sician Services During Disasters and Public
Health Emergencies and has approved it for
external consultation.
The draft clarifies that:
• physicians must provide services if they are
able to do so;
• physician services provided need not be lim-
ited to direct care to people in need; and
• the nature of the situation may require phy-
sicians to temporarily practise outside one’s
scope of practice.
14
DIALOGUE ISSUE 3, 2017
Ensuring Competence
Council has approved a draft policy for con-
sultation that articulates reporting and review
requirements for physicians who wish to
change their scope of practice and/or re-enter
practice after an extended absence. The draft
is a combination of two current policies – the
Changing Scope of Practice and Re-enter-
ing Practice policies.
External preliminary consultations on
both the policies took place in 2016 and the
feedback garnered informs the new draft,
Ensuring Competence: Changing Scope of
Practice and/or Re-entering Practice.
Overall, the general expectations set out in
the current policies have been maintained in
the draft policy, however a few substantive
amendments are being proposed:
1. The reporting requirement has been
changed from three to two years, when:
• P
hysicians intend to re-enter practice
and have not been engaged in practice
for a period of two consecutive years or
more; and
• Physicians intend to return to a scope of
practice in which they ha