Fellows of the College

RANZCO Fellows already completing their CPD with RANZCO don’t need to do anything to remain with us as their CPD Home. If you hold a dual Fellowship with another specialist medical college, you’ll need to select a CPD Home which best meets your scope of practice. If you choose to complete your CPD with RANZCO, you should advise the other College that you are nominating RANZCO as your CPD Home and notify RANZCO of any information that the other College would require regarding your CPD compliance at the end of the CPD cycle. If another College requires you to complete specialist high-level requirements to maintain your registration, you must notify RANZCO and will need to provide documentation to RANZCO that you have completed them before we confirm your CPD compliance. The MBA lists the specialist high level requirements.

Australian-based trainees and SIMGs undergoing assessment

If you are currently enrolled as a trainee with the College or a SIMG undergoing supervised practice and participating actively in the program, your training will satisfy these new CPD requirements, and RANZCO will manage the regulatory reporting on your behalf.

CPD Customers

RANZCO welcomes ophthalmologists who are currently not RANZCO Fellows to make RANZCO their CPD Home. Please note that the RANZCO CPD Home is currently only available in the scope of practice of ophthalmology. To join the RANZCO CPD program as a CPD Customer, applications are available online. For a step-by-step guide to the application process, please see the CPD Policy. Please note that RANZCO reserves the right to refuse applications for participation in the CPD Program. A refusal to participate would be based on publicly available findings of prior misconduct by the medical practitioner. This may include, but it not limited to, conditions on practice or deregistration imposed by another recognised medical college or regulator. RANZCO’s discrimination policy is followed and ensures refusals are not based on attributes defined in anti-discrimination law. Refer to the Medical Board of Australia’s revised CPD registration standard or the Medical Council of New Zealand’s (MCNZ) strengthened recertification requirements for guidance. If you’re unsure about your CPD requirements, you can contact us for further information or tailored support.

Schedule of Rates

Current fees to participate in RANZCO’s CPD Program for non-members are $5,159 AUD (excl. GST). If you would like more information, please email us at cpd@ranzcodev.dev.nucleoserver.com or phone +61 2 9690 1001.

Schedule of Rates

From 2022, RANZCO’s CPD program meets the MBA and MCNZ requirement for a minimum of 50 hours in an accredited CPD program. RANZCO’s CPD Home is accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and is aligned to the scope of practice of ophthalmology. For CPD Participants to meet MBA or MCNZ requirements, RANZCO’s CPD Program consists of:

• a written annual professional development plan
• a minimum of 50 hours per year of CPD activities that are relevant to the ophthalmology scope of practice and individual professional development needs, allocated as:
  • 12.5 hours (25%) recorded under Educational Activities
  • 25 hours (50%) recorded across Reviewing Performance & Reflecting on Practice and Measuring & Improving Outcomes (with a minimum of 5 hours for each category)
  • The remaining 12.5 hours (25%) distributed across any of the three types of CPD
• a self-evaluation of CPD activities at the end of each year, to inform the professional development plan for the year ahead
• the integration of program-level requirements referring to culturally safe practice, addressing health inequities, professionalism, and ethical practice – one activity per area per year
• Add CPD activities in your CPD diary.
• a need to retain records of annual CPD activity for audit by RANZCO and the MBA for three (3) years after the end of each one-year cycle
• and for New Zealand CPD Participants, a yearly structured conversation with a peer, colleague or employer to discuss outcome data from activities already undertaken (e.g. CPD, educational activities, or other).

CPD Handbook CPD Home

Educational Activities

Activities that expand an ophthalmologist’s general practice knowledge, skills and attitudes, related to the ophthalmic scope of practice. This involves individual and group activities, ranging from direct journal reading, webinars and RANZCO Learning online modules through to conference attendance, research, publications, higher education and teaching.

Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice

Activities that require reflection on feedback that an ophthalmologist receives. This feedback could be from patients, peers or even sourced internally. This feedback can either validate what is already being done or assist an ophthalmologist to identify areas for improvement. Activities that encourage reviewing performance and reflecting on practice include the professional development plan, peer review activities, patient and practice surveys, multi-source feedback, quality assurance, risk management and participation in RANZCO committees. This also includes cultural competency, medicolegal peer reviews and reporting activities. Here are some examples:

Peer Review Practice Visit: A peer review practice visit is an alternative to a formal audit of surgical or medical care. You can claim 12.5* hours as either a host or a visitor. Visit the Peer Review Practice Visit resource within RANZCO Learning for more information.

Medico-Legal Reports: Those who specialise in medico-legal services may submit and/or peer review medico-legal reports to fulfil the requirement and can claim 5* hours per report. These reports should be de-identified due to confidentiality.

Audit/Peer Review Meeting: A formal meeting or webinar should have a Chair and a written record. Data and results analysis should be available for discussion. Self-reflection of one’s performance in comparison to peer data can also be performed. Recommendations for implementing practice changes should be recorded.

Surgical audit and peer reviews’: Visit the Surgical Audit resource within RANZCO Learning for more information. You can claim up to 12.5* hours for participating in a Surgical Audit and 5* hours in Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice under Peer Review and implementing practice changes.

Health and Wellbeing Activities: Participation in RANZCO approved Health and Wellbeing activities, involving performance review and risk management pertaining to the scope of practice as an ophthalmologist. These RANZCO approved activities involve reflection, review, implementation of strategies to reduce risk and enhance performance, and does not include the actual time involved doing the physical activity that was recommended. A comprehensive annual check-up with your GP can gain you up to 1 hour of CPD under health and wellbeing activities. These RANZCO approved activities involve reflection, review, implementation of strategies to reduce risk and enhance performance, and does not include the actual time involved doing the physical activity that was recommended.

Measuring and Improving Outcomes

Measuring and Improving Outcomes activities require an ophthalmologist to retrieve data to ensure quality results. These activities allow a CPD participant to demonstrate that they are aware of current evidence and best practice in a particular area. Measuring and Improving Outcomes activities tend to be audits relevant to scope of practice; and can be clinical, morbidity/mortality, education and training, and medical defence activities. Office record reviews (ORR) using prospective or retrospective data, can also be performed.

Surgical audits and peer reviews: These are important strategies in improving standards in medical and surgical care. For participation and process of the audit there are 12.5* hours under Measuring and Improving Outcomes, which can be linked to the peer review of the audit and implementing practice changes under Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice for a further 5* hours. More information is available.

Office Record Review (ORR): An ORR is a retrospective audit of at least 10 patients’ medical records pertaining to history, examination, investigation, diagnosis and management of a specific condition. It is a form of documentation audit introduced by the CPD Committee to assist CPD participants who are not operating to fulfil their CPD requirements. You can claim 5* hours for each ORR. There is a list of 27 excel templates that can be downloaded. Each template pertains to an ophthalmic diagnosis with a specific definition and time frame requirement.

Medical defence audits: These are allocated at 5* hours for the audit process, under Measuring and Improving Outcomes. A further 5* hours under Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice can be claimed for the associated peer review meeting and implementation of practice changes. You may undertake audit activity as a group provided:

• Individual results are available as part of the group results.
• There is an audit meeting for discussion of results, feedback, so each Fellow can formulate a plan for improvements.

Professional Development Plans (Part A and B)

Another of the introduced requirements of the MBA and MCNZ is the Professional Development Plan.

Professional Development Plans (PDP) are a tool to help make sure the CPD you complete is relevant and useful. They:

• help you think about your lifelong learning, knowledge gaps and learning opportunities
• connect your learning to your practice needs
• match your increasing skills and knowledge to changes in your practice.

All CPD participants must complete their PDP Part A at the beginning of the year and review it at the end of each year, with the goal of creating a more structured and purposeful approach to education and professional development. One hour of CPD is claimable for completing PDP Part A and up to two hours of CPD is claimable for completing PDP Part B.

CAPE

Many activities that RANZCO CPD Participants are already completing will have CAPE embedded.

CPD Activity List

Program Level Requirements: CAPE

The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) and Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) recommends all CPD programs include some core content on:

Culturally safe practice

Addressing health inequities

Professionalism, and

Ethical practice

CAPE resources can be found within the Learning Management System under Social and Professional Responsibilities.

CAPE outlines ways in which doctors can advocate for their patients, with culturally safe, professional and ethical responsibilities at the forefront of their practice, allowing them to strive for equitable health outcomes for all communities, which is promoted by both the MBA and the MCNZ.

The MBA have recently included a new requirement to recertification outlined in the MBA CPD Registration Standard. All of the registered medical practitioners must engage in activities that develop their skills relevant to CAPE. CPD Participants complete at least one activity for each program-level area of CAPE.

The requirement can be met by either completing activities that primarily address one or more program-level requirements or by completing activities that have any of the program-level requirements embedded as a component. Many activities that RANZCO CPD Participants are already completing will have CAPE embedded.

Cultural safety and a focus on health equity is already a requirement for CPD activities for NZ CPD Participants by the MCNZ.

RANZCO supports its CPD participants in their endeavour to navigate these requirements. The RANZCO CPD Program incorporates activities and resources that encourage the development of skills in alignment with this code of conduct. Click here for the full list of RANZCO CPD activities and their alignment with CAPE where appropriate.

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Culturally Safe Practice

“Cultural safety is determined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities. Culturally safe practice is the ongoing critical reflection of health practitioner knowledge, skills, attitudes, practising behaviours and power differentials in delivering safe, accessible and responsive healthcare free of racism.”– The National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy

2020–2025 Consistent with the Strategy 2020–2025, it’s expected that your CPD activities will allow you to critically reflect on:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approaches to health
• the continuing impact of colonisation, racism and bias on health outcomes on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• rights-based approaches to improving health services (including outcomes and access).

Resources

RANZCO Resources:

• RANZCO Learning Cultural Safety Course – RANZCO CPD participants can participate in training modules within the RANZCO Learning portal that will assist them in developing the attitudes and behaviours that will enable the provision of culturally safe and respectful ophthalmology services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Māori and Pasifika peoples, and the many culturally and linguistically diverse populations of Australia and New Zealand.

CPD participants can claim up to 4 hours of CPD under Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice for completing these modules.

• RANZCO Learning Resources – Social and Professional Responsibilities. The Learning site includes an extensive list of online resources that the RANZCO CPD team have located for its CPD participants.

Online Resources:

• The National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020–2025 – A strategy that aims to eliminate racism from the Healthcare System
• Communicating Effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Patient Care Guideline – Reference tool to support healthcare staff in delivering safe, clinically and culturally responsive inpatient care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients
• Sad News, Sorry Business – Guidelines for caring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through death and dying
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander – Cultural Safety Framework and Continuum of Cultural Safety Reflective Tool – The framework provides a continuous quality improvement model to strengthen the cultural safety of individuals and organisations
• MCNZ Statement on Cultural Safety
• MCNZ Statement on cultural safety and He Ara Hauora Māori: A Pathway to Māori Health Equity
• Cultural Safety Fact Sheet – Australian Indigenous Doctor’s Association
• Cultural Safety Curriculum Review Report – The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists
• SBS Cultural Atlas: An Educational resource on the cultural background of Australia’s migrant population

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Addressing Health Inequities

“Health inequities are systematic differences in health outcomes. Health inequities are differences in health status or in the distribution of health resources between different population groups, arising from the social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.”– World Health Organisation 2018 Consistent with the Strategy 2020–2025, it’s expected that your CPD activities will allow you to critically reflect on the:

• Disparities in the health status of different groups in the Australian community resulting from social, cultural, geographic, health-related and other factors.
• Using your expertise and influence to protect and advance the health and wellbeing of individual patients, communities and populations

Resources

• RANZCO’s Community Engagement. This includes:

• • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health
  • Māori and Pasifika Eye Health

• RANZCO Reconciliation Action Plan

• Explore RANZCO’s Social and Professional Responsibilities page for more Health Inequities resources
• The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare – The AIHW also publishes numerous resources on the issues of health inequity among many communities including LGBTQI+ and the disabled. There are many ways to demonstrate your compliance with this requirement including through targeted learning and undertaking an audit of the cultural safety of your practice. You may be doing several activities already that align with the Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia.

Online Resources

• International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness
• WHO 2021, The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health: vision beyond 2020

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Professionalism

“Doctors are expected to reflect regularly on whether they are practising effectively, on what is happening in their relationships with patients and colleagues, and on their own health and wellbeing. They have a duty to keep their skills and knowledge up to date, refine and develop their clinical judgment as they gain experience, and contribute to their profession.” – AHPRA 2020-2025 “Professionalism would address quality and efficiency, skill and judgement as well as other factors such as behaviour, attitude, time management, commitment. The professional development programme at RANZCO Congress would have a significant number of the sessions which cover these qualities.” – A/Prof Lawrence Lee, CPD Committee Chair There are certain professional values on which all doctors are expected to base their practice and therefore, could underpin their CPD. These include:

• Doctors have a duty to make the care of patients their first concern and to practise medicine safely and effectively
• They must be ethical and trustworthy
• Patient-centred Medical Practice
• Cultural Awareness
• Good Communication
• Self Awareness and Self-reflection

Resources

• Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia
• Medical Council of New Zealand Conduct and Professionalism Standards
• Medical Board of Australia Professional Performance Framework
• RANZCO Professional Code of Conduct Policy
• A Wellbeing Charter for Doctors
• RANZCO Operating with Respect course

Explore RANZCO’s Social and Professional Responsibilities page for more Professionalism resources. Many of RANZCO’s Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice Activities address the Professionalism standard by way of reflection on practice and addressing knowledge and skill development.

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Ethical Practice

The ethical principles that guide all medical care apply to RANZCO CPD participants. Key ethical principles include:

• Justice – Patients should be treated equally, and there should be equity of access to services regardless of place of residence, ethnicity, gender, religion, age or disability
• Respect for autonomy – The right of an individual to self-determination, including privacy and confidentiality
• Beneficence – Taking positive action to do good
• Non-maleficence – Do no harm

“Ethical practice relates to conforming to a standard of practice, which also includes qualities such as honesty, good behaviour and attitude. Processes with audit where results are benchmarked according to large data such as the registry data where bench marking can occur would be a good example where we can use current activities. Activities looking at standard methods of management of conditions would also discuss ethical practice.” A/Prof Lawrence Lee, CPD Committee Chair Explore RANZCO’s Social and Professional Responsibilities page for more Ethical Practice resources.

Resources

• RANZCO Learning Resources – Social and Professional Responsibilities. The Learning site includes an extensive list of online resources that the RANZCO CPD team have located for its CPD participants.
• RANZCO Policy on Use of Clinical Photography

Online Resources

• RACP 2021 Clinical Ethics Statement (and resources)

The Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) describes an annual structured conversation as: A structured conversation (at least annually) with a peer, colleague or employer about the doctor’s clinical practice. The purpose of this activity is to provide time for the doctor to reflect on their development needs, their goals for learning and professional activities and their intentions for the next year. Doctors are encouraged to use the information they have obtained undertaking activities across the three types of CPD to inform this conversation. It provides an opportunity to receive constructive feedback and share best practice. It may also give doctors the opportunity to explore their satisfaction in their current role, self-care and any health and wellbeing issues so they are able to adjust their practice, accordingly, set performance targets for the future, and consider longer-term career aspirations.

Resources

RANZCO has devised an optional template that Fellows and CPD Customers can use to complete their Structured Annual Conversation. See Aotearoa New Zealand specific standards for assessment and accreditation of recertification programmes. CPD Hours for the Structured Annual Conversation You can claim up to 5 hours of Reviewing Performance and Reflecting on Practice hours for this activity.

Specialist high-level requirements describe any education, reviewing performance or measuring outcomes activities that may be included in a specialist’s CPD program. The Medical Board approves and publishes high-level requirements for specialists registered in Board recognised specialties and fields of specialty practice. There are currently no specialist high-level requirements for RANZCO CPD participants in 2024. If you are a member of multiple Colleges, please access The Specialist High Level Requirements on the Medical Board of Australia website for information regarding whether you must provide the RANZCO CPD Team with additional documentation for CPD compliance.

As a provider of CPD in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, RANZCO undertakes an annual verification audit of participants’ CPD activities recorded in the CPD Program. This is a requirement of the College’s accreditation. The purpose of the annual verification audit is to confirm the accuracy of participants’ CPD returns, compliance with requirements, and relevance of activities claimed; but it is also to determine the validity of the CPD Program. Selected participants will do this by providing the College with documentation to support their activity log. Any CPD Customer or Fellow who has nominated RANZCO as their CPD Home could be included in the 5% of randomly selected participants for the annual verification audit. The selected participants will be offered 6 weeks to gather and provide the required supporting documentation to the College.

Should you be selected for the annual verification audit, the Verification Audit Guide is intended to assist you.

An application for a CPD exemption or an extension may be submitted to the CPD Committee for review under exceptional circumstances. Examples of exceptional circumstances include prolonged illness, maternity leave, leave of absence from the profession. An extension should be applied for at least 3 months before the end of the CPD cycle. Applications for exemption are considered on a case-by-case basis and evidence should be submitted accordingly. The CPD adjustment application form should be completed and submitted to the CPD Team by emailing it to cpd@ranzcodev.dev.nucleoserver.com

RANZCO’s Professional Performance Support and Voluntary Retraining Policy is available to outline RANZCO’s processes and procedures for the identification, management and support of CPD participants who are having difficulty meeting RANZCO’s expectations for clinical knowledge and skills and social and professional responsibilities. If you feel as though you may require remediation support, the College can assist you. Please contact the CPD team at cpd@ranzcodev.dev.nucleoserver.com

RANZCO welcomes applications from providers who have developed education content and resources that align with the learning and development needs of ophthalmologists. If you have content you would like to be considered for accreditation of CPD hours, please submit an application form. The RANZCO CPD Handbook can assist you with determining which category your activity would fall under. Providers seeking accreditation of their activity should make an application to the CPD Committee at least six weeks before the activity commences. The application form can be downloaded using the link below. Please make sure you save the application form before emailing it to the College. If you don’t, your changes will be lost. Your application will be assessed based on the following criteria:

•  A learning needs assessment was performed.
• The proposed activity has clearly stated aims, and clear and measurable learning outcomes.
• Practicing ophthalmologists were involved in the planning of the activities.
• The activity is conducted in a setting(s) conducive to effective learning.
• The activity provides an opportunity for attendees to participate in the learning process.
• The application contains an outline of the subject to be presented.
• The names and credentials of the presenters are supplied.
• Any commercial interest/activity is clearly stated, and any promotional aspect must be separated from the educational content.
• The attendees are provided with self-evaluation questions at the end of the session.
• The activity includes an evaluation to ascertain if the educational activity fulfills its aims and objectives.
• The academic content is reproduced for participants to refer to at a later date.
• The educational material is provided with the application to allow for review by the RANZCO CPD Committee.

Please refer to the RANZCO Accreditation Of CPD Resources Policy for more information. If you would like more information, please email us at cpd@ranzcodev.dev.nucleoserver.com Please note: RANZCO reserves the right to refuse accreditation of any submitted content and resources should the content not fit the ophthalmic scope of practice or the CPD Framework.

We invite you to engage with the RANZCO Special Interest Groups, who may provide CPD opportunities across the Ophthalmic Scope of Practice.

 

Contacting the CPD Team

There are various ways to contact the CPD Team at RANZCO.

Email: For any queries and/or support relating to the RANZCO CPD program, please contact the CPD team at cpd@ranzcodev.dev.nucleoserver.com

Phone: If you wish to speak to a member of our CPD team, please call the College at +61 2 9690 1001.