Quality

Assurance
Program

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 1

Introduction
The
 Quality Assurance (QA) Program is one of the key components of the regulation of the
profession of medical radiation and imaging technology in the public interest. The practice of
the profession is constantly changing. Registrants’ professional roles, responsibilities, and
accountabilities differ today from those of yesterday, and will evolve even more in the future.
The purpose of the QA Program is to assure the quality of the profession’s practice and
promote continuing evaluation, competence, and improvement among registrants to ensure
safe, effective, and ethical patient outcomes.

In
 the Standards of Practice and the QA Program, “registrants” refers to all registrants of
the CMRITO; that is, registrants in all of the five specialties: radiography, radiation therapy,
nuclear medicine, magnetic resonance and diagnostic medical sonography. Similarly,
“profession” refers to the profession of medical radiation and imaging technology, which
includes all of the five specialties: radiography, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine, magnetic
resonance and diagnostic medical sonography.

What is the CMRITO Quality Assurance Program?

As
 regulated health professionals, CMRITO registrants are required to maintain competence
in their current area(s) of practice and continually improve their competence to respond to
changes in practice environments, advances in technology, and the evolving health care
environment.

The
 goal of the CMRITO QA Program is to assure the public of the quality of practice of
medical radiation and imaging technology by maintaining registrants’ performance at a level
that meets the profession’s Standards of Practice and by promoting continuing competence
and improvement.

The CMRITO QA Program:

• complies with the legislative requirement1 of the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA)
that the CMRITO establish and maintain a QA program

• is consistent with the CMRITO’s mandate to regulate the profession to protect the public
interest

• encourages registrants to take accountability for their continuing competence and quality
improvement in a changing environment

• provides an opportunity for registrants to control and direct their own continuing education
and professional development

1
The requirements for the CMRITO QA Program are set out in the Health Professions Procedural Code, Schedule 2 of the
Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) and the quality assurance regulation (O. Reg. 375/12) made under the Medical
Radiation and Imaging Technology Act (MRIT Act).

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 1

 The
 QA Program also provides a method for demonstrating compliance with the CMRITO
Practice Standard 8, Continuing Competence, which states:

“Registrants
 must have, maintain and apply the necessary knowledge, skills and judgement
to ensure safe, effective and ethical outcomes for the patient. Registrants must maintain
competence in their current area of practice and must refrain from acting if not competent.
Registrants must obtain and maintain the necessary knowledge, skills and judgement to
respond to changes in practice environments, advances in technology and other emerging
issues. Registrants must participate in the College’s Quality Assurance Program as part of
maintaining and improving their competence.”

QA Program overview
The RHPA requires that the QA Program have the following components:

1. Continuing education or professional development designed to

a. promote continuing competence and continuing quality improvement among registrants

b. address changes in practice environments

c. incorporate standards of practice, advances in technology, changes made to entry to

practice competencies and other relevant issues at the discretion of the Council

2. Self, peer and practice assessments

3. A mechanism for the CMRITO to monitor registrants’ participation in and compliance with
the program

4. The collection, analysis and dissemination of information

The
 CMRITO QA Program is based on the understanding that registrants come into the
CMRITO with appropriate skills and knowledge acquired through approved educational
programs and that these initial competencies are maintained through lifelong learning and
adherence to the Standards of Practice. The QA Program is based on the principles of adult
education, which allows registrants to choose development activities based on their individual
learning needs and style, resources available, and acknowledges that learning comes from
engaging in a variety of activities.

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 2

Elements of the CMRITO QA Program:
1. QA Declaration

2. QA ePortfolio

3. Peer and Practice Assessment

QA Declaration
The
 QA Declaration is completed each year when registrants renew their registration. Every
registrant must confirm that they understand and are compliant with the requirements of the
QA Program. There are two QA declarations:

1. I understand that to be in compliance with the Quality Assurance Program each calendar
year (January 1 to December 31), I must:

a. complete a self-assessment and at least 25 hours of continuing education or

professional development activities

b. keep a record of my self-assessment and completed activities using the CMRITO QA

ePortfolio

2. I am in compliance with the CMRITO Quality Assurance Program.

QA ePortfolio
Each
 year, all CMRITO registrants are required to complete the QA ePortfolio. The QA year
runs from January 1 to December 31. The QA ePortfolio includes the following components:

1. Q A Profile
The QA Profile provides an overview of an individual’s practice. It allows registrants to
reflect on their practice in the context of the scope of practice and authorized acts of
the profession. It also helps to identify any recent or expected changes to their work
environment, new procedures, equipment, or practice related legislation that may affect
their practice from year to year. This helps registrants reflect on the type of continuing
education they may need to plan for that year.

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 3

 2. Self-Assessment
The Self-Assessment is based on the CMRITO’s Standards of Practice. Each year,
registrants are required to assess their individual practice against a minimum of two of
the eight Practice Standards and their related Indicators. Completing this self-assessment
annually helps registrants identify opportunities to enhance their knowledge of the Practice
Standards and their Indicators.

3. R
 ecord of Continuing Education and Professional Development (CE&PD)
Registrants are required to complete and record at least 25 hours of CE&PD activities
annually. These learning activities may include professional readings, seminars, webinars,
conferences, courses, learning from other professionals (e.g. attendance at rounds,
tutorials and staff meetings), training on new equipment, applications, procedures or
software, writing and delivering presentations, courses or clinical teaching, research, writing
a professional journal article or paper, and others. Registrants must reflect on what they
learned from each activity and explain how they have applied this learning in their practice.

The
 QA ePortfolio automatically stores all registrant QA records for the past five years.
Registrants can also download copies of their QA ePortfolios if they wish to retain their
records for longer.


Did you know? CMRITO has a free app. The ‘QuickQA’ app is available on both
the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Registrants can use it to record
their learning activities on the go, prior to uploading them to the QA ePortfolio.

Peer and Practice Assessment

Peer
 and Practice Assessments are completed by means of an Individual Practice
Assessment (IPA). They help identify areas of strength as well as areas that may require
awareness, learning, and improvement. An IPA may be assigned to registrants by the QA
Committee as required. The assessment process is aimed at providing feedback regarding a
registrant’s performance in their practice setting.

An
 IPA involves a peer assessor observing and/or interviewing a registrant regarding the
specific areas of their practice which may not be meeting the CMRITO Standards of Practice.
A report of the assessment is prepared by the assessor and provided to the QA Committee
and the registrant.

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 4

Monitoring participation and compliance
CMRITO
 is required to have a mechanism to monitor registrants’ participation in and
compliance with the QA Program.

The
 QA Committee monitors registrants’ participation and compliance in the QA Program. For
example, using reports generated by the QA ePortfolio tool, the QA Committee analyzes
de-identified statistical data about participation and compliance with the QA Program.

QA Assessments
Each
 year, the CMRITO conducts assessments on QA ePortfolios of selected registrants. The
number of registrants required to submit their QA ePortfolio for assessment in any given year
is set by the CMRITO Council. Registrants that are selected for assessment through a random
selection process are notified by email and alerts are placed on their CMRITO profile and their
QA ePortfolio dashboard.

Outside
 the general selection process, individual registrants may be required to submit their
QA records or to undergo a peer and practice assessment by the QA Committee.

Registrants
 must co-operate with the QA Committee and any assessor appointed by the QA
Committee. Failure to co-operate with the College and failure to comply with a requirement of
the QA Committee and the QA Program are considered acts of professional misconduct.

The QA Committee
The
 QA Committee is one of the CMRITO’s statutory committees and is comprised of
members of the CMRITO Council (both professional and public members) and CMRITO
registrants who have been appointed to the Committee. Members of the QA Committee are
required to keep all information about registrants’ QA records confidential except under certain
circumstances set out in the legislation.

The
 role of the QA Committee is to administer the QA Program in accordance with the RHPA,
the QA regulation and any other applicable law. The QA Committee can require registrants to
submit their QA ePortfolio to the CMRITO for assessment. In most cases, the QA Committee
is satisfied with registrants’ QA records in their QA ePortfolio. However, after assessing a
registrant’s QA ePortfolio, the QA Committee can require a member to complete or revise
their QA records, complete one or more Specified Continuing Education or Remediation
Programs (SCERPs), complete a peer and practice assessment, or refer a registrant to the
Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee for investigation of allegations of misconduct,
incompetence, or incapacity.

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 5

Ensuring Competence
Registrants in all practice settings demonstrate their commitment to continually improve their
practice of the profession by engaging in continuing education and professional development
activities, and by participating in the CMRITO QA Program. These actions help to assure the
public that CMRITO registrants are competent now and in the future.

If you have any questions about the CMRITO QA Program, or your responsibilities under the
QA Program, please contact the QA Team at 416.975.4353, 1.800.563.5847, or [email protected].

CMRITO Quality Assurance Program 2024 6

416.975.4353 1.800.563.5847 www.cmrito.org
© 2024 College of Medical Radiation and Imaging Technologists of Ontario