Funding for continuing medical education.

Both the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada have established standards for efficacious, unbiased continuing education. We have gone well beyond traditional continuing medical education into continuing professional development, which encourages our members to engage in self-assessment, self-reflection and activities that allow us to measure change in the physician’s behaviour and the effect of the learning program on their practice. We have introduced and promoted programs that encourage interprofessional education and a team approach to care. Our programs are based on identified needs and our credit systems reward activities that use the most effective educational measures. We have strict rules governing commercial support that incorporate the CMA’s ethical guidelines, and we mandate full disclosure and review of content for bias and balance before a program receives accreditation. In fact, the firewalls for our accredited programs are as rigorous as those of CMAJ.