Application form for CAS Accredited Group Learning Activities
Appendix 1
CMA POLICY
GUIDELINES FOR PHYSICIANS IN INTERACTIONS WITH INDUSTRY (Updated 2007)
Continuing Medical Education/Continuing Professional Development (CME/CPD)
21. This section of the Guidelines is understood to address primarily medical education initiatives
designed for practicing physicians. However, the same principles will also apply for education events
(such as noon-hour rounds and journal clubs) which are held a part of medical or residency training.
22. The primary purpose of CME/CPD activities is to address the educational needs of physicians and
other health care providers in order to improve the health care of patients. Activities that are primarily
promotional in nature, such as satellite symposia, should be identified as such to faculty and attendees and
should not be considered as CME/CPD.
23. The ultimate decision on the organization, content and choice of CME/CPD activities for physicians
shall be made by the physician-organizers.
24. CME/CPD organizers and individual physician presenters are responsible for ensuring the scientific
validity, objectivity and completeness of CME/CPD activities. Organizers and individual presenters must
disclose to the participants at their CME/CPD events any financial affiliations with manufacturers of
products mentioned at the event or with manufacturers of competing products. There should be a
procedure available to manage conflicts once they are disclosed.
25. The ultimate decision on funding arrangements for CME/CPD activities is the responsibility of the
physician-organizers. Although the CME/CPD publicity and written materials may acknowledge the
financial or other aid received, they must not identify the products of the company(ies) that fund the
activities.
26. All funds from a commercial source should be in the form of an unrestricted educational grant payable
to the institution or organization sponsoring the CME/CPD activity.
27. Industry representatives should not be members of CME content planning committees. They may be
involved in providing logistical support.
28. Generic names should be used in addition to trade names in the course of CME/CPD activities.
29. Physicians should not engage in peer selling. Peer selling occurs when a pharmaceutical or medical
device manufacturer or service provider engages a physician to conduct a seminar or similar event that
focuses on its own products and is designed to enhance the sale of those products. This also applies to
third party contracting on behalf of industry. This form of participation would reasonably be seen as
being in contravention of the CMA’s Code of Ethics, which prohibits endorsement of a specific product.
30. If specific products or services are mentioned, there should be a balanced presentation of the
prevailing body of scientific information on the product or service and of reasonable alternative treatment
options. If unapproved uses of a product or service are discussed, presenters must inform the audience of
this fact.
31. Negotiations for promotional displays at CME/CPD functions should not be influenced by industry
sponsorship of the activity. Promotional displays should not be in the same room as the educational
activity.
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32. Travel and accommodation arrangements, social events and venues for industry sponsored CME/CPD
activities should be in keeping with the arrangements that would normally be made without industry
sponsorship. For example, the industry sponsor should not pay for travel or lodging costs or for other
personal expenses of physicians attending a CME/CPD event.
Subsidies for hospitality should not be accepted outside of modest meals or social events that are held as
part of a conference or meeting. Hospitality and other arrangements should not be subsidized by sponsors
for personal guests of attendees or faculty, including spouses or family members.
33. Faculty at CME/CPD events may accept reasonable honoraria and reimbursement for travel, lodging
and meal expenses. All attendees at an event cannot be designated faculty. Faculty indicates a presenter
who prepares and presents a substantive educational session in an area where they are a recognized expert
or authority.
Electronic Continuing Professional Development (eCPD)
34. The same general principles which apply to “live, in person” CPD events, as outlined above, also
apply to eCPD (or any other written curriculum-based CPD) modules. The term “eCPD” generally refers
to accredited on-line or internet-based CPD content or modules. However, the following principles can
also apply to any type of written curriculum based CPD.
35. Authors of eCPD modules are ultimately responsible for ensuring the content and validity of these
modules and should ensure that they are both designed and delivered at arms’-length of any industry
sponsors.
36. Authors of eCPD modules should be physicians with a special expertise in the relevant clinical area
and must declare any relationships with the sponsors of the module or any competing companies.
37. There should be no direct links to an industry or product website on any web page which contains
eCPD material.
38. Information related to any activity carried out by the eCPD participant should only be collected, used,
displayed or disseminated with the express informed consent of that participant.
39. The methodologies of studies cited in the eCPD module should be available to participants to allow
them to evaluate the quality of the evidence discussed. Simply presenting abstracts that preclude the
participant from evaluating the quality of evidence should be avoided. When the methods of cited studies
are not available in the abstracts, they should be described in the body of the eCPD module.
40. If the content of eCPD modules is changed, re-accreditation is required.
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Appendix 2
CANADIAN ANESTHESIOLGISTS’ SOCIETY
GUIDELINES
APPROVAL PROCESS FOR A CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
FOR RCPSCP SECTION 1 CREDITS (ACCREDITED GROUP LEARNING ACTIVITIES)
NOT-FOR-PROFIT NON-ACCREDITED PHYSICIAN ORGANIZATION
1. The CAS is an accredited provider under the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
Maintenance of Certification program and may approve a CPD activity for Section 1 (Accredited
Group Learning Activities) on behalf of a not-for-profit non-accredited physician organization
without necessarily co-developing the CPD activity.
2. The CAS may delegate the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the CPD activity to the
physician organization.
3. The CAS will be recognized as the accrediting body on the program materials.
4. The physician organization accepts responsibility for keeping records of attendance and will provide
the attendees with certificates of attendance.
5. The physician organization will provide the CAS the evaluation results of the educational activity.
6. The physician organization will provide records of the CPD activity (materials, attendance) to the
Credit Validation program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Maintenance
of Certification program on request.
7. The following criteria must be met:
a) The educational needs of the target audience must be considered when deter-mining session
objectives. These may be determined by having members of the target audience sit on the planning
committee, by conducting surveys, or by convening focus groups.
b) Course objectives need to be printed in the syllabus that describes what the participants may learn
or achieve by attending the session.
c) The session must formally incorporate opportunities for interactive learning using planned
discussion periods (totaling 25% of course time or more) or small-group interactive sessions.
Although not mandatory, course planners are encouraged to meet these other criteria:
d) Some learning objectives for the session should be based on self-assessment tests or practice
audits.
e) Participants should receive feedback on their learning.
Documentation demonstrating that these criteria have been met, as well as the final program and list
of speakers, must be submitted to the CAS Accreditor for approval.
8. Approval of the event for Section 1 (Accredited Group Learning Activities) will be recognized by the
following statement on program materials: “This event is approved as an accredited group learning
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activity as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society.”
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CANADIAN ANESTHESIOLOGISTS’ SOCIETY
GUIDELINES
RELATIONSHIPS WITH INDUSTRY SPONSORS AND FOR-PROFIT PHYSICIAN
GROUPS/ORGANIZATIONS IN CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
ACTIVITIES
The Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS) works with industry to achieve our goals in continuing
professional development. With regards to financial support for continuing physician professional
development (CPPD activities), certain guidelines must be followed to ensure that there is no conflict of
interest between the aims of those providing or participating in the educational activity and those of the
company that is supporting the program.
Educational and professional development activities organized by the CAS are not a forum to advertise
products and must be free of commercial bias. Events related to commercial products must present
objective information about those products predicated upon valid scientific assessment of evidence
generally accepted in the medical community.
Identifying Products, Reporting on Research, and Discussing Unlabelled Uses of Products:
1. The generic names for drugs must be used in presentations, discussions, and enduring material.
2. In the course of educational discussions, speakers must disclose when a commercial product is not
labeled for the use under discussion or when the product is still investigational.
3. No product advertisement may appear on, or with, any of the written material (preliminary or final
programs, brochures or advance notifications) for an event.
Exhibits and Other Commercial Activities:
4. When commercial exhibits are part of the overall program, arrangements for these should not
influence planning or interfere with the presentation of CPD activities.
5. Representatives of corporations providing commercial support may attend educational activities in
accord with CAS meeting regulations. These representatives should not actively participate in the
discussion nor promote their products, which should be restricted to venues specifically convened for
this purpose.
Acknowledgment of Support:
6. Acknowledgment of support may be included in the course program or on the enduring material, but
without mention of any specific product.
Commercially Supported Social Events:
7. The value of social functions at CPD events is recognized. However, they should neither compete
with, nor take precedence over, the educational events. It should be clear at all times that the scientific
content is the primary focus of the meeting, and not the venue nor social activities.
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Policy on Disclosure of Faculty and Sponsor Relationships:
8. All faculty and planning committee members participating in accredited CPD must provide a written
Disclosure of their relationships with industry as defined by the Canadian Medical Association. This
also pertains to other corporations whose products or services are related to the presentation topics
9. All faculty and planning committee members must disclose all relevant relationships with industry
(not just those directly related to the topic or content being discussed at the event) for the prior two
years. Disclosure is required with respect to: grant/research support, industry consultancy, speaker’s
bureau for industry, major stockholder or other financial or material support (including being paid an
honorarium by a corporation for participation in any activity of the meeting or being enrolled as a
featured speaker for a corporation). This disclosure requirement extends to immediate family
members of the speaker. Such disclosure will be given in writing by all speakers using the CAS
standard disclosure forms.
10. A written description of the relationships of faculty and planning committee members must be
provided to participants. This must either be part of the written conference material or described in
the second slide at the time of presentation.
11. The intent of this policy is not to prevent a speaker with a potential conflict of interest from making a
presentation. It is intended that any potential conflict of interest should be identified openly so that
the participants may form their own judgments about the presentation with full disclosure of the facts.
It remains for the audience to determine whether the speaker’s outside interests are reflected in a
possible bias in the presentation or written materials.
12. These guidelines are consistent with and reflect the Code of Ethics of the Canadian Medical
Association, and the guidelines of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the
College of Family Physicians of Canada, and Section 4 of Rx&D, Canada’s Research Based
Pharmaceutical Companies Code of Conduct.
October 2007
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CANADIAN ANESTHESIOLOGISTS’ SOCIETY
GUIDELINES
APPROVAL PROCESS FOR A CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
FOR RCPSCP SECTION 1 CREDITS (ACCREDITED GROUP LEARNING ACTIVITIES)
CO-DEVELOPMENT WITH NON-PHYSICIAN ORGANIZATIONS
Events sponsored by organizations that do not meet the definition of a physician organization must be
co-developed by an accredited provider to obtain Maintenance of Certification credits. Such
organizations, hereafter called industry, include pharmaceutical companies or their advisory groups,
medical supply and surgical supply companies, communication companies, for-profit physician led and
other for profit organizations and ventures/activities. These programs may or may not occur at a CAS
sponsored event. There is a fee payable to CAS for the co-development of such an educational activity
in addition to logistical support.
In order for industry-sponsored CPD activities to be accredited, a CAS-appointed representative must be
involved in the planning process to ensure that the content of the CPD activity is of educational value and
is unbiased, and that the speakers deal objectively with the subject matter. The CAS in its role as the codeveloping accredited provider, through its representative, has ultimate authority over program content
and speakers, including the right to propose or veto speakers. If CAS co-development guidelines are not
met, participants must be informed that the educational event is not part of the official program. This
information must be printed on course material and announced at the commencement of the activity.
Note: All industry-sponsored Satellite Symposia at the CAS must be co-developed if they are to be
included in the official scientific program book or brochure. If the symposium is not co-developed by the
CAS, the name of the co-developing accredited provider must be included along with the Satellite
Symposium listing.
For co-developed status:
1. The CAS must be integrally involved in the planning process from the beginning, be represented on
the planning committee, and participate in the assessment of needs, program design, implementation,
and evaluation.
2. To achieve this purpose, the CAS will appoint a representative to the planning committee.
3. For CAS-related co-developed educational activities, this representative will be selected by the Chair
of the CAS Continuing Education and Professional Development Committee. With respect to the
Satellite Symposia that are held concurrently with the CAS Annual Meeting, the CAS Annual
Meeting Chair will select and appoint this representative
4. Each of the following criteria must be met:
a) The educational needs of the target audience must be considered when determining session
objectives. These may be determined by having members of the target audience sit on the
planning committee, by conducting surveys, or by convening focus groups.
b) Course objectives need to be printed in the syllabus that describes what the participants may
learn or achieve by attending the session.
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c) The session must formally incorporate opportunities for interactive learning using planned
discussion periods (totaling 25% of course time or more) or small-group interactive sessions.
Although not mandatory, course planners are encouraged to meet these other criteria:
d) Some learning objectives for the session should be based on self-assessment tests or practice
audits.
e) Participants should receive feedback on their learning.
5. Documentation demonstrating that criteria a), b), and c) have been met, as well as the final program
and list of speakers, must be submitted to the CAS Accreditor for approval.
6. Co-development of the CPD activity by the CAS must be recognized on program materials.
7. All payments to speakers for travel, accommodation and honoraria must flow from the planning
organization through the CAS Office to the speaker. This is done so as to remove the perception of
industry directed control of the content of the presentation.
8. The CAS accepts responsibility for maintaining registration records and will provide registrants with
certificates that show potential maximum educational credits. It remains with the individual attendee
to exercise appropriate discretion when claiming actual credits for Maintenance of Certification.
9. Approval of the event for Section 1 (Accredited Group Learning Activities) will be recognized by the
following statement on program materials: “This event, co-developed by the Canadian
Anesthesiologists’ Society, is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the
Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.”
10. The CAS logo shall appear on the program. Information and instructions on its correct usage appear
in Appendix 1.
11. The Program Planners and Organizer will provide the CAS with all documentation (minutes,
correspondence etc.) related to the planning of the program. This documentation requirement is
needed so that the CAS can meet its obligation as the responsible organization overseeing the
planning of the program i.e. the same requirements as when the CAS organizes its own educational
program.
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Application form for CAS Accredited Group Learning Activities
How to use the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS) logo
Format
 Only the official CAS logo may be used.
The official logo consists of:
 The red leaf, blue snake and blue staff
 Official association names


The leaf, snake and staff must always be accompanied by the association name in
English and French
 Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society
 Société canadienne des anesthésiologistes
The original PMS colours for the CAS logo are 186 (red) and 273 (blue). The CAS logo
may be reproduced in 4-colour (CMYK) mode.
If the logo is to be reproduced in black and white please request the grayscale version of
the logo.
Legibility
 The logo may be resized as needed, provided it is scaled proportionately. It must still be
legible at a smaller size. Note that the logo will lose definition and impact if reproduced
any smaller than .25” or 6 mm.
 The CAS logo must be reproduced on a background that ensures good legibility. Do not
place the logo on a cluttered or insufficiently contrasting background.
Style
 The CAS logo shall not be revised or rearranged in any way, hand-drawn or altered
versions (such as change in type or colour) are not permitted.
 Do not incorporate any part of the CAS logo with another logo to result in a new logo.
 Do not place any graphic elements with or around the CAS logo (such as a box) that
could be interpreted as part of the CAS logo.
 Do not add or remove graphic elements or letters.
 Do not obstruct the logo with other images.
Usage on the Web
 When used on the Web, the logo must be an active link to http://www.cas.ca
 For web use, we recommend using a jpeg, with a minimum resolution of 100 dpi
Questions?
The CAS Webservices Manager is always available to consult with you regarding proper logo
usage.
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Should you have any questions or concerns please contact webservices@cas.ca
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DEFINITIONS
Continuing professional development (CPD)
CPD extends beyond traditional continuing medical education, which is perceived to focus on updating
medical knowledge. In CPD, practitioners define competencies that they see as relevant to their individual
practice needs. CPD covers subject matter such as doctor-patient communication, interdisciplinary team
skills and risk management, as well as other competencies defined by the Royal College’s CanMEDS
2005 Framework. CPD activities utilize a wide variety of education and content delivery formats.
Accredited Provider of CPD Activities
A National Specialty Society or University Office of CME that has been deemed by the Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Continuing Professional Development Accreditation Committee to
meet the requirements of an Accreditor Organization. An Accredited Provider can approve Section 1 and
3 programs submitted by either Physician (Group A) or Non-Physician (Group B) organizations.
Co-development
An educational program or activity that is planned and developed jointly by a physician and nonphysician organization with specific roles and responsibilities required by each organization. The
physician organization is ultimately responsible for the program content, delivery and fiscal activities of
the program and must use the appropriate accreditation statement.
Group A (Physician) Organization
A non-profit group of health care professionals with a formal governance structure accountable to, and
serving its membership with regards to continuing professional development, clinical standards and /or
research activities. Group A organizations include but are not limited to National Specialty Societies and
their Provincial/Territorial Divisions, Hospital and University Departments and Medical Organizations
such as the Canadian Medical Association and its Divisions and the Health Branch of the Canadian
Armed Forces.
Group B (Non-Physician) Organization
Organizations that do not meet the definition of a physician organization. Group B organizations include
pharmaceutical companies or their advisory groups, medical supply and surgical supply companies,
communication companies, for-profit physician led and other for profit organizations and
ventures/activities. Educational activities sponsored by Group B organizations must be co-developed by
an accredited provider if they wish to obtain Section 1 or 3 Maintenance of Certification credits for their
educational activity.
Program Organizer
The group or organization planning the educational activity. This can be either a Group A or Group B
organization.
Commercial Bias
Commercial bias is defined as an unfair influence or distortion of the facts. In its commonest form it
presents as a commercial slant to the benefit of a particular manufacturer of pharmaceuticals or health
care technologies that may result in the application of knowledge gained in a physician’s professional
practice that is not necessarily of benefit to patients.
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