Physician Practice Quality

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador is responsible for providing trusted medical care in the public interest through the regulation of medical doctors in this province. As part of the College’s responsibility to protect the public, CPSNL works with physicians to ensure patients are provided the quality of care they require. To meet this commitment, CPSNL administers programs that will help ensure physicians practise to the highest standards possible.

To help ensure safe and quality care, the College should work with physicians in the areas of knowledge, skills, experiences, attitudes, values, and behaviours. Through these programs the College identifies, assesses, and remediates when physicians do not meet professional standards. A number of tools and processes are used to identify Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement efforts:

• Quality Assurance involves objective, systematic processes intended to ensure that predefined standards are being met.  Quality assurance processes answer the question, “Are we meeting the standard(s)?”
• Quality Improvement involves understanding current level of quality, identifying gaps between actual and expected quality, and introducing changes in practice for measurable results. Quality improvement processes answer the questions, “Why wasn’t the standard met?”, and “What can we do to meet and then exceed the standard?”

Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement efforts are mutually reinforcing.