Continuing education: what most provincial cycles have in common
The details differ by regulator, but the structure is remarkably consistent across the country. Here is the shape of it, and where offices tend to slip.
Every provincial dental regulator in Canada requires registrants to complete continuing education, and every one of them audits a sample of registrants each cycle. The exact number of credits, the length of the cycle and the categories vary, so this article deliberately avoids quoting figures. Your regulator's website is the only authoritative source. What follows is the common structure.
The cycle
Most regulators work on a multi-year cycle, typically three years, with a minimum number of credits to be accumulated over the whole cycle rather than each year. Some add a per-year minimum on top. Credits are usually measured in hours of participation, with one hour equalling one credit, although a few regulators weight certain activities differently.
Core versus non-core
Almost every regulator splits activities into two groups. Core (sometimes called category 1 or clinical) covers courses directly related to patient care, often with a requirement that a certain share come from accredited providers. Non-core covers practice management, ethics, communication and self-study. The common mistake is to arrive at the end of a cycle with plenty of non-core hours and a shortfall in core.
The activities that are almost always required
- A current CPR or basic life support certificate, renewed on the schedule the regulator specifies.
- Some form of jurisprudence or ethics content at least once per cycle in several provinces.
- Records. Certificates of attendance, receipts or provider letters for every credit claimed, kept for at least one full cycle after the one in which they were earned.
Where audits go wrong
Registrants rarely fail an audit because they did no education. They fail because they cannot prove it. A folder, physical or digital, that receives every certificate the day it is issued solves the problem for almost no effort. Recorded sessions count in most provinces when the provider issues a certificate, but a recording watched without one usually does not.
If you practise in more than one province, the cycles do not synchronize and credits are not automatically shared. Track each regulator separately.