Practice Ready Program. There has been some concern by our members that CSAs who have taken residency training in places recognized by the CPSBC, RCPSC, and CFPC would have another hurdle to overcome with the inception of this new program. That is not the case. Here is Health Match BC’s explanation of the program.
The Practice Ready Assessment BC program is similar to programs that have operated in other provinces for some years. It is a collaboration between the College of Physicians & Surgeons of British Columbia, the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues representing the Government of British Columbia and Doctors of BC, and the University of British Columbia in partnership with British Columbia’s health authorities and Health Match BC. It is modeled on the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program and meets or exceeds the National Assessment Collaboration (NAC) requirements of the Medical Council of Canada. However, each province is responsible for establishing its own requirements for entry to its program. The College of Physician and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) establishes the requirements for licensure in this province, so the PRABC aligns its rotation requirements with the requirements of the CPSBC.
It is a competency assessment pathway to licensure for some internationally-trained family physicians who appear to meet the requirements for licensure in BC, but who obtained some or all of their medical training in countries where an applicant’s medical credentials cannot be assessed by our regulatory authorities through their normal processes. PRABC is not a training program. Participants must have completed all of their post-graduate training before applying.
Participants must pass a Therapeutics Exam, Objective Structured Competency Assessment (OSCE) and a Clinical Field Assessment (CFA) under the direct supervision of fully licensed physicians, who have received special assessor training, over a four month period. If successful, the PRABC participant will be granted a provisional license by the CPSBC. For the first three years of practice on a provisional license they must work in a designated rural community of need. They must then complete all their necessary examinations for full licensure, usually within five years.
It has always been the case that the College of Physician and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC), College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) recognized the licensure of physicians who obtain their medical education and post-graduate training from specific countries (most notably the UK, Ireland, Australia and the United States) as long as their post-graduate training included rotations in the same clinical areas required of a Canadian-trained physician. This has not changed. Before the PRABC pilot program existed, internationally-trained and licensed physicians who did not meet the basic CPSBC credential criteria would be denied a license.
Comments are closed