Professionalism Concern Reporting Process

There is "No Wrong Door" to reporting a professionalism concern.

1. A concern is submitted by a Reporter (Anonymous or Named—on behalf of self or others), either online, through Office of Advocacy & Wellbeing, an education lead, Chief Wellness Officer or other route

2. The concern is received and assigned a status by a FoMD professionalism triage office (a small group of faculty members within FoMD with signed confidentiality agreement for the role)

Anonymous Submission of Professionalism Concern

Where the concern is placed anonymously:

1. The professionalism triage officer will be unable to contact the anonymous Reporter

2. The concern is shared with members of the professionalism triage committee who decide on whether to send the concern to the individual's Supervisor (e.g., Chair, Program Director, Human Resources, Other), based upon:

   • Ensuring the anonymity of Reporter when moving forward with the concern

   • Constructive messaging within the concern

3. Ask the Supervisor to report back to us with the action they’ve taken

4. Where relevant, the concern is shared with AHS/Covenant (e.g., if occurring in a clinical environment)

5. The concern is logged as a way of tracking recurring behaviors and professionalism themed-behaviours

Confidential Named Reporter Concern

Where a Reporter includes their name and email address as a part of the submission:

1. Concern can be placed on behalf of one’s own experience, or on behalf of others (3rd party concern). An example of a 3rd party concern would be a program director submitting on behalf of a learner or a group of learners

2. The triage officer will contact the Reporter in as timely a fashion as possible (with or without a support person, as selected by the Reporter in the concern submission)

3. At the meeting with Reporter, the triage officer will:
   
   

   • Review supports for the Reporter and Reporter’s wellness

   • Review the concern from the Reporter’s point of view & summarize themes/concerns arising from the experience

   • Explore what would be ideal outcomes/goals from the Reporter’s point of view

   • Review possible options on how to deal with the concern

4. Approaches to addressing concerns are done on a case-by-case basis and may include:

   • Logging the concern as a way of tracking behaviour, if the Reporter does not wish to take further action

If the reporter wishes to take further action we will send the concern and summary on behalf of the reporter to the appropriate individual/organization. This may include:

• • Submit concern to Individual’s Supervisor (e.g.: Chair, Program Director, Human Resources, Other)

  • Forward to UGME or PGME

  • Forward to Alberta Health Services/Covenant Health

  • Submit concern to Health Professions Colleges of Alberta (e.g.: CPSA)

  • If there is a group or environment concern, this would be forwarded to FoMD Chief Wellness Officer

• The Supervisor receives the concern, meets with named person, and sets out interventions regarding the Individual/Individuals, as per the Graduated Approach to Professionalism set out by Vanderbilt (Hickson et al, Academic Medicine 2007)

• A summary of actions/outcomes are sent to the Office of Professionalism from Supervisor

• Professionalism triage officer communicates with Reporter to close the loop on concern

Note:  If the concern is felt to be egregious (i.e., patient or learner safety is at risk), there is leader discussion with Faculty Affairs, Dean/Deputy Dean, and/or Faculty Relations regarding immediate next steps for safety of learners with consideration of non-disciplinary suspension, while the concern is looked into and/or reported to formal disciplinary bodies for investigation and conclusion (case by case basis).

Note: If the concern is not deemed to be a professionalism concern or is outside the jurisdiction of the Professionalism Triage Committee, then other pathways to address the concern will be offered.

The Professionalism Triage Committee reviews submitted concerns, ongoing concern, and outcomes every 8 weeks, closing concluded concerns by consensus. There is a target timeline of 6 months from submission of concern to outcomes and closure.

Records of concerns are retained in the same fashion and for the same time period, as for all Human Resource Records at the University of Alberta. Anonymized summaries are posted annually on the FoMD professionalism website for institutional transparency and accountability.

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Professionalism Accolade Process (September 2017)

1. The reporter submits an accolade online.

2. The accolade is received and acknowledged by a professionalism triage officer, by electronic interface through the MedSIS platform.

3. The triage officer forwards the accolade to the professionalism administrative assistant.

4. Verbatim copies of the accolade are sent by letter from the Office of Professionalism to the person named and commended in the accolade, as well as to their faculty officer or supervisor (ie: Divisional Director, Department Chair, AHS Site Lead, Supervisor, Undergraduate/Postgraduate Deans, Program Director). The recipient of the accolade is able to include this in their annual report if applicable. Note: the name of the reporter who submitted the accolade will be kept anonymous in the accolade letter.

5. The professionalism administrative assistant contacts the Reporter of the accolade, informing them that the accolade has been forwarded

6. All accolades are reviewed by the Professionalism Triage Committee.

Note: Accolades received online can be included in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's Annual Report Online (ARO). Directions regarding this are contained within the accolade letter.

Are you reporting an accolade for highly professional behavior?

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