March 2021 - College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia

Renewal is Approaching – Time for a Currency Check

March 18, 2021

With COVID-19, many people have faced interruptions to employment and may have experienced a decrease in hours worked. To renew, College Bylaws require registrants to meet one the following currency hour requirements:

Successful completion of at least 600 hours within the scope of the profession in the preceding three years,
Successful completion of a re-entry program within the preceding 18 months,
Graduation from a recognized Canadian occupational therapy program or being deemed substantially equivalent, having obtained an academic qualification from a program or institution outside Canada, within the past 18 months.

Given registration renewal will be for the 2021/2022 period, the hours completed during the following years will be eligible towards meeting the 600 hours in the preceding three years currency hour requirement: 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Please review your currency to ensure you will be eligible for renewal in June.

The College website offers a currency calculator to help you tally your hours.

If you are short on currency, the Registration Committee will consider hours you spent in other activities that support your continuing competence and the delivery of safe, ethical, and effective care. These activities may include participation in volunteer work and continuing professional development (both formal and informal study) from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2021.

Note these hours cannot exceed 25% of the 600 required hours (i.e., 150 hours), and cannot have been accumulated while your registration status was non-practising or cancelled, or while you were participating in a re-entry program.

To apply for consideration fill out the online form and/or contact the College for next steps at: registration@cotbc.org

BC Public Advisory Network (BC-PAN) Shares Summary Reports

March 18, 2021

The College of Occupational Therapists of BC is a proud founding partner of the BC Public Advisory Network (BC-PAN). The BC-PAN was established in 2019 as a joint initiative between a number of BC health profession regulators to encourage more comprehensive and meaningful public engagement on important issues related to health profession regulation.

The public members involved in the BC-PAN are asked to provide their feedback on a variety of topics to help guide practice standards and professional guidelines, strategic priorities, and communications directed at the public. BC-PAN members include both patients and caregivers with varying levels of experience with the health-care system, and representing different demographics in the population (gender, age, ethnicity, geographic location, health conditions, and practice setting experience).

Following a successful pilot phase in 2019, the College partners continued the BC PAN initiative and hosted three virtual meetings between September 2020 and February 2021. BC PAN members provided their perspectives on topics such as:

-virtual care
-appropriate use of social media by registrants
-their expectations about colleges’ codes of ethics
-what information should be available on a public register
-actions colleges can take on anti-racism, cultural safety and health equity

It can be challenging for any individual college to gather input from the public in a meaningful way. Partnering with other Colleges on the BC Public Advisory Network has made this possible and will influence how COTBC includes a public perspective in our work. We are excited to continue this important collaboration.

To learn more about the BC-PAN and the feedback provided so far, read the summary reports.

Developing One Set of competencies for OTs in Canada

March 18, 2021

CORECOM is a pan-Canadian initiative (across the academic, association and regulatory sectors) to develop one set of occupational therapy competencies for occupational therapists in Canada. This month we see the launch of a validation survey for input from all OTs in Canada. (The College sent registrants an email on March 8 with information on how to participate in the validation survey and contribute to the evolution of this new single set of competencies for occupational therapists in Canada.)

This new single set of competencies for the profession will ultimately replace the Essential Competencies of Practice for Occupational Therapists in Canada (3^rd Edition) that we rely on for many of our regulatory functions. COTBC will develop an implementation plan to incorporate this new set of competencies across all college programs.

Other partners will be similarly addressing the impact of the new competencies on the activities of their respective organizations including the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) and the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy University Programs (ACOTUP). The COTBC Registrar serves as one of the regulatory representatives on the CORECOM Steering Committee.

New Practice Standard for Infection Prevention and Control

March 1, 2021

The College recognizes that March 2021 signifies one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. This past year has brought the principles of infection prevention and control to the forefront of providing safe, effective and ethical occupational therapy practice.

The new COTBC Practice Standard for Infection Prevention and Control was developed following the recommendation of the Patient Relations, Standards and Ethics Committee and in consultation with the Provincial Infection Control Network of British Columbia. While we acknowledge registrants are already immersed in this work, please take a moment to review the new standard to ensure you are meeting practice expectations.