SUBJECT: MAINTENANCE OF COMPETENCY (MOC)
POLICY: The Opticians of Manitoba (OOM) believe that Opticians have a professional responsibility to demonstrate that they are engaged in lifelong learning and maintaining their competence.
SCOPE: The OOM is mandated by the Province of Manitoba Opticians Act to:
- develop, establish and maintain standards of academic or technical achievement and qualification required for registration as a member and monitor compliance with and enforce those standards;
- develop, establish and maintain a maintenance of competency program to maintain the competence of its members, promote high standards of knowledge and skill and to enhance the practice of Opticianry through a program that may provide for, but is not limited to:
- reviewing the professional competence of members,
- requiring members to participate in programs intended to ensure competence,
- conducting practice audits.
- promote the ability of members to respond to changes in practice environments, advances in technology and other emerging issues.
In keeping with OOM bylaws and the Province of Manitoba Opticians’ Act:
- all members are required to acquire a minimum number of credits of MOC education on an annual basis and in every three year cycle, in order to maintain their License to Practice,
- members can begin to accumulate MOC credits as soon as they become Licensed in Manitoba and it is the responsibility of each member to ensure they are in compliance with MOC requirements,
- inactive members must continue to maintain all MOC requirements,
This policy applies to all Licensed Opticians and Contact Lens Licensed Opticians in Manitoba.
PROCESS:
NOTICE TO MEMBERS
- The OOM Standards Committee will distribute a Maintenance of Competency Handbook (Appendix A) to all licensed members, prior to the beginning of each new 3 year cycle. The handbook will include the minimum number of credits that will be required in order to maintain their License to Practice. Further notice will be given from time to time if there are changes to the number of credits to be assigned to each approved MOC program or if there are new MOC approved programs.
- A report of the number of MOC credits reported and approved for each member will be maintained and accessible at any time to all members on the OOM website. Members who do not have access to the internet may request that the OOM provide them with a hard copy of their MOC report.
- If a member has more credits than they require for a given three year cycle, they are allowed to carry forward a maximum of 4 MOC credits to the next three year cycle. It is the member’s responsibility however to advise the OOM in writing if they wish to carry forward any surplus credits and to specify which credits they wish to carry forward.
HOW TO EARN MOC CREDITS
- All MOC credits must be related to the maintenance of the member’s standards of practice competence, i.e eye glasses and/or contact lenses.
- It is strongly recommended that Opticians complete one third (1/3) of the total number of credits required for the three year cycle, by August 31 of each year of the three year cycle, in order to avoid having to obtain credits required in order to be eligible for obtaining a license at the end of the third year of the cycle. PLEASE NOTE however that members who failed to comply with MOC requirements at the end of the previous three year cycle, will be required to complete one third of the total number of credits in each year of the next cycle.
- A member must obtain 75% of their MOC credits from “Category A” activities and 25% from “Category B” activities (Appendix B).
- OOM Members may obtain MOC credits from:
- attending Eyeglasses (EG) or Contact Lens(CL) related seminars, lectures , workshops or MOC modules,
- attending Advanced Practice Courses: Opticians enrolled in Advanced Practice Year One, Advanced Practice Year Two Contact Lenses, and Advanced Practice Year Two Sight Testing will be awarded 9 credits per year, divided between the Eyeglasses and CL categories, upon successful completion of the year of studies.
- participating in “Related Field “ (formerly “Other”) activities which may be used to supplement the total MOC requirements, subject to the minimum and maximum totals and the OOM policy for calculating credits in the “Related Field “ (formerly “Other”) category as described in Appendix C. “Related Field “ (formerly “Other”) activities may include:
- relevant lectures or MOC modules having content that can be applied to the practice of opticianry e.g. St. John’s Ambulance, CPR, Management /Motivational Seminars etc.,
- attending presentations sponsored by the OOM or the OAC
- activities, which are not considered as an educational tool for the individual member but would be considered as a volunteer activity that enhances the practice of opticianry.
- completing OAC education modules online, if the member is a member of the OAC.
- If a supplier, company, organization believes that there are courses, seminars or a learning module that should qualify for MOC credits they may submit a Request for Evaluation of Credits for a Proposed MOC Activity form (Appendix D) to the Registrar. Their request will be considered by the Standards Committee and they will be advised in writing of the Committee’s decision
NOTE:
- As the Jurisprudence module developed by the Alliance of Manitoba Regulated Health Professions, the Manitoba Health PHIA training and the PHIA refresher modules including the Social Media module are all considered to be a basic licensing requirement in Manitoba these modules are not eligible for MOC Credits.
- Participation as a paid interviewer in the PLAR process is not eligible for MOC credits.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR MOC CREDITS
- Members who attend OOM sponsored events which are eligible for MOC credits sponsored will be required to hand in a completed Evaluation Form (Appendix E) at the registration table, at the completion of the event, in order to receive their MOC credits for attending.
- Members must retain proof of MOC activities and are responsible for submitting details of events attended which are not provided by the OOM using the Application for MOC Credits Form (Appendix F), to the Registrar for approval by the Standards Committee, if they wish to receive credits for these events. If the sponsor of the event has provided attendees with an MOC certificate verifying the member’s attendance, these can be submitted with the application form as verification. If a certificate has not been provided by the sponsor of the event, the verification of attendance section on the Application form must be signed by the sponsor, in order to be considered for MOC credits.
- An Application for Approval of MOC Credits (Appendix G) must be submitted to the Registrar and approved by the Standards Committee, before MOC credits can be awarded for the activities in the “Related Field “category.
- Although the OAC records a member’s credits earned for OAC education modules, OOM members are still required to submit a copy of their MOC certificate for each module to the OOM so it can be entered in the OOM data base for the member, as proof of completion.
- Copies of MOC education certificates (Appendix H) will be provided to members at the conclusion of each event arranged by the OOM, and the member’s credits will be entered by the OOM in the member’s MOC file.
NOTICE TO MEMBERS WHO ARE NON COMPLIANT
- If a member is noncompliant at the end of a three year cycle, the member will:
- receive a letter, sent by registered mail, advising them of their non- compliant status at the beginning of October of the year following the end of the previous three year cycle.
- be provided with this grace period within which to bring themselves into compliance with MOC requirements. No further grace period will be allowed unless the member submits a letter in writing to the chair of the OOM Standards Committee with a reasonable reason as to why they have been unable to achieve compliance and require an extension and receives approval from the Standards Committee for the extension. The extension of the grace period if approved will allow the member one additional month to achieve compliance.
Credits earned from September 1- November 1 in the first year of the next three year cycle in order to bring the member into compliance in the previous three year cycle, cannot also be applied to the current/new three year cycle.
- If a member fails to achieve compliance by the end of the approved grace period, the Standards Committee may, in the absence of a reasonable excuse being provided by the member:
- withdraw the member’s License to Practice under the Opticians’ Act,
OR - require the member to successfully complete a suitable examination of their skills and knowledge, at the member’s expense.
- withdraw the member’s License to Practice under the Opticians’ Act,
- The Standards Committee must make their decision to either withdraw the member’s License to Practice or require the member to complete an examination within 30 days following the compliance deadline.
- The Standards Committee must forward a letter by registered mail to the member within 15 days after their decision has been made, advising him/her:
- if the member’s License to Practice is being withdrawn, the specific reasons and the date that the withdrawal becomes effective,
- that in order to maintain their License to Practice, the member is required to take an examination, at their own expense, to demonstrate their skills and knowledge, which must be successfully completed within 30 days and that a copy of the examination results must be forwarded to the Standards Committee within 10 days of receiving them.
- of their right to appeal the decision of the Standards Committee by submitting a letter to the OOM Council within 10 days of receiving the notification.
A copy of the notification letter must also be forwarded to the OOM Council.
METHOD OF REVIEW/APPEAL
- Any decision by the Standards Committee to withdraw a License to Practice may be appealed, in writing to the OOM Council.
PRACTICE AUDITS
The Standards Committee must facilitate annual practice audits of a random selection of the members each year, utilizing internal or external resources.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The annual report from the OOM Complaints Resolution Committee must include the following information for the year in respect of which the report is submitted:
- the number of practice audits conducted and the results of the audits;
- a description of the Maintenance of Competency program of the OOM and other methods used to maintain the competence of the members.
NEW POLICY: MAINTENANCE OF COMPETENCY – ACCREDITATION – EFFECTIVE AUGUST 21, 2018.
APPENDIX E: OPTICIANS OF MANITOBA MAINTENANCE OF COMPETENCY PRESENTATION EVALUATION FORM
APPENDIX F: OPTICIANS OF MANITOBA APPLICATION FOR MAINTENANCE OF COMPETENCY (MOC) CREDITS
APPENDIX H: OPTICIANS OF MANITOBA MAINTENANCE OF COMPETENCY (MOC) EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
