This policy is for applicants recruited by an Ontario medical school for an academic position, but who do not meet the usual requirements for an academic practice certificate. (The usual requirements include certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the College of Family Physicians of Canada.) This policy applies for positions of assistant, associate or full professor.

Requirements

You may be issued a certificate of registration authorizing academic practice if:

1. you have a degree in medicine as defined in Ontario Regulation 865/93 under the Medicine Act, 1991;
2. you:
   1. hold specialist certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (“RCPSC”) or the College of Family Physicians of Canada (“CFPC”), or
   2. hold specialist certification by a board in the United States of America that is a regular member of a board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, or
   3. are recognized as a specialist in the jurisdiction where you practise medicine by an organization outside of North America that recognizes medical specialties, and the organization which recognized you as a medical specialist did so using standards that are substantially similar to the standards of the RCPSC or the CFPC;
3. you have been offered a full time clinical academic appointment to the faculty of an accredited medical school in Ontario at the rank of assistant, associate or full professor; and
4. you are recognized in the same discipline you are being recruited for appointment in Ontario.

There are additional requirements for assistant professors:

1. A written job description stating that you will be involved in clinical practice, teaching, research, administration, or clinical development and evaluation or some combination of these; and
2. An agreement from the medical school to assess your clinical and academic performance and to submit annual reports in a form that is satisfactory to the CPSO.

Terms, conditions and limitations

1. The following terms, conditions and limitations will be attached to a certificate of registration authorizing academic practice for all professors: You may practise medicine only in a setting that is approved by the Chair of the department in which you hold an academic appointment at the rank of assistant, associate, or full professor, and in accordance with the requirements of your academic appointment.
2. The certificate automatically expires when you no longer hold the academic appointment.

In addition, for assistant professors:

1. The certificate of registration automatically expires seven years from the date of issuance, or when you no longer hold the academic appointment at the rank of assistant professor.
2. The certificate of registration automatically expires, but may be renewed by the Registration Committee, with or without terms, conditions and limitations, if the Registration Committee:
   1. receives a report indicating that your clinical performance, knowledge, skill, judgment, professional conduct, or academic progress is unsatisfactory, or
   2. does not receive an annual report, or
   3. receives a report that is unsatisfactory in form or content.

Application for a restricted certificate of registration

If you are registered under this policy, you may apply for a restricted certificate of registration to practise independently limited to your scope of practice if you:

1. Have practised in an academic setting and maintained an active clinical practice in Ontario for a minimum of five years; and
2. Provide evidence of satisfactory clinical performance, knowledge, skill, judgement, and professional conduct from the medical school where you hold your academic appointment.

Endnotes

Full Time Clinical Academic Appointment: an academic appointment that includes a combination of clinical and academic work. In this document, Full Time Clinical Academic Appointment does not require that the individual must practise a certain number of hours per week. The individual, however, must hold a full time clinical academic appointment and may only practise medicine in an academic setting, under the aegis of the academic head.

Academic Setting: a setting that has an infrastructure in place for reporting clinical and academic performance.