Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community

Terms of Reference

1. Definition and Purpose

Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community is a platform that is intended to provide an

opportunity for Qatar’s experts and interested professionals in Continuing

Medical Education (CME) / Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of

healthcare practitioners to engage, collaborate and share inter-professional

practices and expertise that would support their roles in such field.

1.1. Mission:

To foster stakeholders’ collaboration, partnerships, research and scholarly work

in CME/CPD of healthcare professions in the state of Qatar, which would

promote consistent quality and excellence in such field, enhance the competence

and performance of healthcare practitioners and, subsequently, ensure improved

healthcare service quality and patient care outcomes.

1.2. Vision:

To establish and advance a national, regional and international culture and

support environment that promotes best practices in healthcare based on lifelong

learning and professional development of healthcare practitioners.

2. Membership of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community:

2.1. Eligible members

Applying for membership in the Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall be

open for experts and interested professionals in Continuing Medical Education

(CME) / Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of healthcare

practitioners. This might include individuals working in governmental or non-

governmental healthcare professional academic institutions &/or healthcare

facilities. The Board of Officers of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall

decide on individuals’ eligibility and membership status by reviewing the

submitted membership applications.

2.2. Membership application and review processes

2.2.1. The Board of Officers shall develop membership application forms

and make them available for candidate members. Invitations might

be sent for potential candidates

2.2.2. Individuals interested in becoming members of the CPD

community shall fill in the membership application form and submit

it to the BOO. Membership of, at least, one working group of the

CPD community must be selected by the interested individuals.

2.2.3. The Board of Officers shall review submitted application forms for

completeness and membership eligibility and decide on the

membership status of the applying candidates.

2.2.4. The Board of Officers’ decision on the membership applications

shall be communicated to the applicants in writing.

2.3. Benefits of Membership:

2.3.1. Members of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall be provided

access to the CPD community working groups & forums of their

interest. Such groups and forums will represent platforms for

discussions, sharing expertise and collaboration between CPD

experts and interested professionals in the state of Qatar.

2.3.2. Upon interest, members in Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community

shall be involved in research, system improvement and quality

improvement projects initiate or led by Qatar Council for Healthcare

Practitioners – Accreditation Department (QCHP-AD).

2.3.3. Members of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall have access

to scholarly work, publications and other resources (e.g. templates

and forms) made available by the CPD community.

2.3.4. Members in Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall be invited

to the CPD community’s events, meetings and gatherings.

2.3.5. Members in Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall be invited

to training and professional development activities conducted by (or

within) the CPD community.

2.4. Membership obligations

2.4.1. Members of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall follow and

support all rules, regulations, and/or policies set &/or adopted by the

CPD Community.

2.4.2. Members of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall actively

participate in the CPD Community’s working groups/forums (of their

interest).

2.5. Termination of Membership

2.5.1. Membership may be terminated by voluntary withdrawal.

Membership is not transferable within the organizations or otherwise.

2.5.2. The Board of Officers, upon request or recommendation from

the Community working group coordinators or the oversight

committee, may terminate the membership of inactive members or

those members who repeatedly show disrespect of the rules,

regulations, and/or policies set &/or adopted by the CPD

Community.

2.6. Meeting of Members

2.6.1. Annual Meeting: The annual meeting of the members shall be

held once each year. The aim of the meeting is to discuss current

status and opportunities for CME/CPD of healthcare professionals in

Qatar. Annual achievements, outputs and plans of the CPD

Community’s working groups together with recent research, best

evidence and practices in CME/CPD of healthcare professionals shall

be presented and discussed in the meeting.

2.6.2. Special Meetings: Special meetings of members shall be held

upon call of the chair of the oversight committee. The purpose of the

meeting shall be stated in the notice of the meeting.

2.6.3. Notification of the meetings: Notice of the date, time, place and

agenda of meetings of members shall be announced by e-mail

communication prior to the date of the meeting.

3. Governance of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community

The functions and activities of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community shall be run

by the board of officers and overseen by the oversight committee.

3.1. Board of Officers (BOO)

3.1.1. Formation: the BOO shall be chaired by the Manager of QCHP-

AD or delegate and membered by three officers recruited from

QCHP-AD.

3.1.2. Meetings: The BOO meets, at least, twice per month and in

conjunction with the meetings of the members and meetings of the

oversight committees.

3.1.3. Purpose and Responsibilities: The BOO shall be responsible for

providing general support to the functions and activities of the CPD

community including:

3.1.3.1. Deciding on individual status of membership in the CPD

Community and its working groups. This includes the review

and approval of new memberships and elimination of inactive or

violating memberships.

3.1.3.2. Receiving nominations and arranging elections of CPD

Community working group coordinators.

3.1.3.3. Developing policies, regulations and rules governing the

CPD community functions, as necessary.

3.1.3.4. Revising and revisiting the CPD Community terms of

reference, as necessary.

3.1.3.5. Maintaining records of CPD community meetings, outputs

and recommendations.

3.1.3.6. Facilitating and reinforcing communication across the CPD

community. This includes advising community members on

communication channels, maintaining a CPD community

mailing list and communicating the CPD Community’s

important events and publications.

3.1.3.7. Overseeing and supporting the production of the community

publications and website.

3.1.3.8. Providing administrative and logistic support to the oversight

committee.

3.1.3.9. Providing administrative and logistic support to the CPD

Community working groups.

3.2. Oversight Committee (OC)

3.2.1. Formation: the OC shall be chaired by the Manager of QCHP-AD

and membered by the members of BOO and Coordinators of CPD

Community working groups.

3.2.2. Meetings: the OC shall meet, at least, twice annually unless

otherwise requested by members of the committee. The Chair of the

committee may request for special meetings. The OC members may

attend the meetings via teleconference and this shall be constituted as

presence to a meeting. At least 50%+1 of the OC members shall be

present at any meeting to constitute a quorum. Decisions of the

committee will be made by majority vote.

3.2.3. Purpose and Responsibilities: The OC shall set and oversee the

implementation of the overall strategy of the CPD Community

ensuring that its functions and activities reflect current best practice

and serve the purpose for which it is established for. This shall

include:

3.2.3.1. Setting the overall strategy of the CPD community. The

strategy shall be discussed and revised annually.

3.2.3.2. Recommending, discussing and approving policies,

regulations and rules that are developed by the BOO.

3.2.3.3. Reviewing reports relating to CPD community working

group works and making recommendations as appropriate.

4. Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community Working Groups

All members of Qatar’s Healthcare CPD Community are required to select a

membership of, at least, one working group of the CPD community. The

working groups shall serve as the functional units of the community whose

work shall be coordinated and presented to the oversight committee by the

group coordinator.

4.1. Working Group Coordinator

4.1.1. Appointment: Working group coordinators shall be self-

nominated to the BOO. If more than one coordinator was nominated,

group coordinator shall be selected by electronic poll or voting of

group members during the next annual CPD community meeting.

The term of office of each coordinator shall be two years (renewable

twice, by election). The working group coordinator shall,

automatically, be appointed as a member of the oversight committee.

4.1.2. Roles and responsibilities: the working group coordinator shall be

responsible for:

4.1.2.1. Facilitating and initiating discussions between working

group members.

4.1.2.2. Coordinating the efforts of working group members and the

tasks, they committed to perform.

4.1.2.3. Liaising with the BOO as related to deliverables and outputs

required from the working group.

4.1.2.4. Presenting the working group outputs and deliverables to the

oversight committee.

4.1.2.5. Advising the BOO on the membership status of the working

group members.

4.2. Working Group

4.2.1. Research Group

The group members shall engage in activities that promote CME/CPD research

and scholarly work in Qatar including:

4.2.1.1. Presenting and discussing best evidence and practices in

CME/CPD of healthcare practitioners.

4.2.1.2. Identifying research gaps for CME / CPD of healthcare

practitioners in Qatar,

4.2.1.3. Promoting and supporting CME / CPD research initiatives in

Qatar,

4.2.1.4. Designing, conducting and presenting (at appropriate

venues) CME / CPD research in Qatar.

4.2.2. Quality Improvement (QI) Group

The group shall be concerned with improvement of the quality and efficiency of

healthcare in Qatar through CME/CPD of healthcare workforce. Working group

members shall be involved in discussion, planning for and implementation of QI

projects that involve CME/CPD of healthcare workforce at institutional and

national levels.

4.2.3. Educational Planning Group

The group shall be concerned with discussions and initiatives (institutional and

national) for collaboration in areas like needs assessment, activity evaluation

and other components of proper educational planning of CPD activities.

4.2.4. Strategic Planning and System Innovation Group The group shall be concerned with discussing and advising on innovations and

improvements that might be applied to the National CME/CPD Accreditation

System and Framework to maintain and upgrade its uniqueness and

international recognition and build to Qatar’s National Health Strategy and

Qatar’s Vision 2030.

4.2.5. Publication group The group shall be responsible for managing the development of publication of

the CPD Community and its working groups. The group members shall be

required to:

4.2.5.1. Provide guidance and support for other working group in

writing and developing manuscripts, guidelines and other

outputs and publications ensure their compliance with relevant

national and international codes of ethics and regulations (e.g.

copyright protection, confidentiality, etc.).

4.2.5.2. Inform and update other working groups members on

opportunities available to publish the work nationally or

internationally

4.2.5.3. Help in editing and developing publications (e.g. newsletter,

guidelines, recommendations, etc.) issued by the CPD

Community.

Logistic and technical support for publishing the CPD Community and its

working groups outputs shall be provided by the BOO

4.2.6. Events Planning Group

The group members shall be involved in planning for CPD Community’s

educational and scientific events (e.g. annual meeting, special meetings and

CPD activities). This shall include:

4.2.6.1. Requesting and gathering suggestions for the educational

events’ program theme, topics and speakers from oversight

committee, CPD Community members and others, as

appropriate.

4.2.6.2. Prioritizing and deciding on the events’ program topics and

speakers.

4.2.6.3. Supervising the educational planning for the event (setting

objectives, developing content, selecting the educational format,

etc.)

4.2.6.4. If applicable, applying for QCHP-AD accreditation of the

educational events and ensuring compliance with CPD

accreditation standards.

Logistic and technical support for events planning shall be provided by the

BOO.

4.2.7. Awards and Recognition Group

The group is responsible for deciding on the CPD Community’s annual awards

and recognition of outstanding achievements of continuing professional

development professionals, programs, innovations, and providers in the state of

Qatar. Members shall be invited by BOO based on their experience in CPD

leadership. Membership shall be limited to ten members.

4.2.8. Other Groups

Establishing other working groups can be recommended by the CPD Committee

members, BOO and the OC.