Participation in this programme is compulsory for all Fellows and Members who are responsible for the clinical care of patients.

Every year there will be a random audit of returns of Fellows and Members for one of the preceding years. Fellows and Members will be selected at random and asked to provide documentation to support the information supplied for the re-certification. A Certificate of Continuing Professional Standards will be awarded at two yearly intervals.

Definition

The Continuing Medical Education and Re-certification Prograrnme is the process conducted by the Australian College of Cosmetic Surgery which requires Fellows/Members to demonstrate that they have maintained proper professional standards of knowledge and performance for the period under review.

The Goal

The goal of the Programme is to enable Fellow/Members to demonstrate that they are engaged in the minimum/maximum range of activities, which will assist them to improve their knowledge and skills and so provide their patients with quality health care.

The Programme

There are three facets to the Continuing Medical Education and Re-certification Programme. Each of these facets is required to be satisfied in order for a biennial Certificate of Professional Standards to be issued to the Fellow/Member of the College.

The three facets are:

1.     Patient Audit and Peer Review.

2.     Credentialling at a hospital, which is accredited by the Board Council on Health Care Standards,
        or is a hospital or day surgery center approved by the International College of Cosmetic Surgery.

3.     Continuing Medical Education.

Continuing Medical Education

Definition

Continuing Medical Education consists of those educational activities undertaken after qualifying as a Fellow/Member of the College which serve to increase, maintain and develop the knowledge and skills needed to provide effective and safe patient care.

There are four categories of activities:

Category I - Hospital and Committee Meetings

This includes attendance at any of the following meetings:

(a)     Specialty Unit Meetings.

(b)     Clinical Outcome Meeting including grand rounds.

(c)     Any hospital committee involved with clinical care of patients.

The total minimum requirement for Category 1 is ten hours active involvement Per year.

Category II - Scientific Meetings (I day = 8 hours)

This includes attendance at any internationally accredited meeting involving cosmetic surgical/medical activities.

The total minimum requirement for Category II is thirty hours per annum.

Category III - Self-Educational Activities

These include the following:

(a)     Internet activities related to clinical practice.

(b)     Surgical journals, tapes, videos etc.

(c)     Arranged visits to special units.

(d)     Preparation for and participation in self-assessment tests.

(e)     Acquisition of new skills related to cosmetic surgical practice.

Category IV- Other Activities

These include the following:

(a)     Acting a referee for journal articles.

(b)     Publications in a refereed journal or presentation at an accredited scientific meeting. Allow six
         hours for each different presentation and ten hours for each journal article.

(c)     Undertaking tertiary level courses related to clinical care of patients.
         Participation is equivalent to twenty hours per unit.

(d)     Teaching activities to under-graduates, post-graduates and peers.

(e)     Review of overall practice by peers other than audit activities.

(f)      Participation in organised research related to clinical practice.

The minimum requirements for Categories III and IV are a total of forty hours.

Surgical Audit

Surgical Audit is regular, documented critical analyses of the outcomes of patient care which is reviewed by one's peers and which is then used to further enhance clinical practice.

The results of the audit should be presented at a clinical meeting, e.g. Mortality and
Morbidity, or any other meeting, which is designed to discuss clinical outcomes. This
constitutes the peer review of the audit and is an integral part of the performance of the surgical audit.

Summary of the Requirements of the Re-certification Programme

(a)     Engage in a total of 80 ours of continuing medical education per annum.

(b)     Conduct an audit of some aspect of the Fellow of Member's clinical practice
         related to cosmetic surgery/medicine.

(c)     Arrange a peer review of that audit.

(d)     Engage in audit activities for at least 5 hours per annum (in addition to activities referred to in
         (b) and (c) above).

(e)     Be credentialled at a hospital that is accredited by the European/International
         Council on Health Care Standards or that meets the standards for an approved hospital.

(f)      If requested, Fellows/Members are required to supply documentation to support the information
         provided on the Annual Re-certification Data Form.

At the end of each calendar year, each Fellow/Member will be sent a Re-certification Data Form, which is required to be completed and return to the College by the due date.

All documents will be assessed and as soon as possible after the due date each Fellow/Member who meets the minimum standard will be sent a Re-certification Statement for the previous year. It is envisaged that Re-certification statement will be issued no later than December of the year following the year being re-certified.

At the end of two years each Fellow/Member who has met the requirements for two consecutive years is awarded a Certificate of Continuing Professional Standards. It is a condition of Re-certification that Fellows/Members produce evidence that they have current medical indemnity insurance with an appropriate medical defence organisation.