To be compliant with the PEP, all registrants are required to log into the Portal, set up their profile and complete the Self Assessment, PD Plan and PD Plan Review by the indicated deadline.
The Professional Enhancement Program was launched in January 2023. It is now available to all CDOBC registrants through the PEP Portal.
The College’s core mandate is to ensure public safety. Quality assurance is one of the mechanisms by which the College supports registrants in effectively maintaining evolving their professional competence so that the services they provide to the public are safe and effective, throughout their careers.
To further enable registrants to provide the highest standard of service to the public, the College has introduced a new aspect of quality assurance – the Professional Enhancement Program (PEP).
“I am excited about the PEP. I think it will help me identify my strengths and weaknesses to guide me in the goals that I want to achieve in my career. I feel it will help me map out the direction on where my focus needs to be to grow as a clinician”
Registered Optometrists & member of the PEP Advisory Group
Based on the Career-Span Competence Approach and a core set of competencies, which align with CDOBC Standards of Practice, the Professional Enhancement Program will enable registrants to better manage their on-going, career-long, professional development and rise above minimum standards to become “the best you can be”.
The College worked closely with the Career-Span Competence Collaborative (www.careerspancompetence.com) in the development and implementation of the Professional Enhancement Program. Importantly, this work also engaged registrants through the PEP Advisory Group (active from July to December 2022) and in an intensive pilot testing period (fall 2022), to ensure the program and the PEP Portal to is user-friendly and engaging to registrants.
“Building my practice over the past three decades, I had to attend numerous conferences to accomplish and implement my goals. I wish I had the Professional Enhancement Program to guide me in 1988!”
Registered (soon retiring) Optometrist & PEP Advisory Group member
About the PEP
To learn more about the PEP, view the information below or in the resource section on your PEP Portal:
- View the short PEP Video
- Read:
Overview – The Professional Enhancement Program
The Professional Enhancement Program (PEP) is based upon a set of competencies – the Career Span Competencies – which are inherent in the CSC Approach. The Career-Span Competencies align with the CDOBC Standards of Practice; in fact, through a survey that took place in 2016 when the Standards of Practice were being developed, registrants validated the Career-Span Competencies as very important in optometric practice.
The PEP is different from traditional quality assurance programming – it does not focus on counting education units, technical skills alone, and the College over-seeing what registrants are doing in relation to their professional development. The intent of the PEP is to:
- Place the responsibility of managing career and professional development firmly in the registrant’s own hands.
- Recognize that each registrant has their own, unique career path.
- Engage registrants in meaningful professional development activities that are directly linked to workplace performance.
- Bring attention to the important “soft” (non-technical) skills.
- Enable registrants to engage in career-long reflective practice.
Program components
The Professional Enhancement Program (PEP) consists of 3 components:
1. Self-Assessment
Registrants will undertake a self-assessment that involves rating their own performance relative to in-depth indicators derived from the Career Span Competencies. Self-assessment is fundamental to the PEP and is a required activity.
In addition, the PEP Portal provides a mechanism for registrants to obtain feedback on their performance from registrant-selected patients. Patient feedback will supplement a self assessment, providing registrants with a more comprehensive understanding of their competence. Obtaining patient feedback is optional.
Registrants will create a professional development (PD) plan that supports both performance enhancement and their individual career trajectory. This involves identifying PD goal(s) based on results of self-assessment and linked to selected Career-Span Competencies, as well as PD activities that will be undertaken to achieve these goal(s).2. My Professional Development (PD) Plan
3. My Professional Development (PD) Plan Review
Toward the end of a PEP Cycle, registrants will be prompted to review their PD activities and the level of their goal completion. In addition, they will be prompted to reflect on how they anticipate their workplace performance being impacted by the PD activities. Completion of the PD Plan Review component is required before moving into the next PEP Cycle.
The conceptual framework behind the Professional Enhancement Program is the
Career-Span Competence (CSC) Approach. To learn more:
- View the short (2-minute) CSC Approach Introductory Video
- Read more here (“The PEP Conceptual Framework”)
PEP Cycles
The program components are completed sequentially over a 2-year period (“a PEP Cycle”):
- In Year 1 (of each cycle) – registrants are required to complete a self assessment and create a PD plan.
- In Year 2 (of each cycle) – registrants are required to undertake their self-identified PD activities and complete the PD plan review.
Cycles repeat over subsequent years.
Compliance
As a mandatory component of quality assurance, the College requires compliance with the Professional Enhancement Program. Compliance is based on completing program components on an annual basis by the specified deadlines.
Inclusion of the PEP within quality assurance does not change the current continuing education requirements, standards and competence audits, and participation in Peer Circles. All registrants must remain current with and practice in accordance with the minimum standards contained in the College’s Bylaws and Policies.
Confidentiality
The information that a registrant uploads into the PEP Portal, across all 3 program components, is confidential. Each registrant will have their own PEP profile and account, and the information registrants upload will be available only to them.
The PEP Portal
The PEP Portal is an online access point to the Professional Enhancement Program, developed specifically for its delivery. In addition to housing the 3 program components, the Portal maintains a registrant’s records across all PEP Cycles, career-long. It also provides resource information and other support functions