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- Postgraduate training -

Regular Accreditation Surveys

Regular accreditation surveys of postgraduate training programs and sites in the medical faculties and institutions are held once every eight years, and are run jointly by the Canadian Residency Accreditation Consortium (CanRAC), which comprises the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ), College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). Surveys are carried out by teams consisting of physicians from other Quebec and Canadian university hospitals, who are joined by resident doctors—three in the team assessing family medicine, and four in the team reviewing programs in other specialties.

Regular accreditation surveys take place every...

2 years

An accreditation survey is the formal process for evaluating the quality of postgraduate training programs and sites, and establishments. Surveyors look at all aspects of a program to confirm whether they meet pedagogical expectations based on a series of standards defined by CanRAC with a view to guaranteeing and enhancing the quality of programs. 

Among these standards are general standards, as listed below for each program:

  • Program organization (standards focused on the structural and functional aspects for supporting the program: organizational structure, program directors, committees, culture of respect for resident doctors’ opinions, etc.)
  • Education program (standards based on planning, design, and delivery of the residency program targeting attainment of independent practice, including quality of teaching, balance between service and education, increasing professional responsibility, resident doctors’ performance assessment, etc.)
  • Sufficient resources for managing and delivering training to ensure the residency program’s access to adequate clinical, physical, technical, human, and financial resources.
  • Support for teachers, learners, and administrative personnel so as to ensure a safe, positive training environment for all, in particular, safety and wellness, occupational safety, adequate supervision, follow-up on situations of bullying, fair treatment, etc.
  • Continuous quality improvement throughout the program. The program has to show that there is a systematic process in place for reviewing and improving the residency program and its components regularly, such as action plans laying out the elements to be improved.