The Royal College is doing its part to address Canada's health care challenges by introducing significant updates to the Practice Eligibility Route (PER) process for specialists. These changes aim to streamline the certification path for international medical graduates, ensuring they can integrate more efficiently into Canada's health care system while maintaining the high standards of care Canadians expect.

Glen Bandiera, MD, FRCPC, Executive Director of Standards and Assessment at the Royal College, notes: “By cutting down barriers and making our PER process more efficient, we're dramatically improving the experience for these doctors and building a more diverse and strong health care workforce for Canadians."

Key updates to the PER process

We leveraged the switch to competency-based assessment to enable several policy updates to improve the PER process:

• We reduced the practice time needed from five years to two years in Canada for eligible candidates. This change speeds up the certification process while ensuring enough time to assess competency in the unique Canadian context. 
• We now recognize time spent in select clinical fellowship programs towards the PER practice time requirement. When a fellowship is sufficiently broad to assess a candidate’s competency across the base discipline, the change acknowledges the expertise of schools to do workplace-based assessment and supports a more inclusive assessment process.

We also mapped the entire PER process to identify areas for improvement. Key enhancements include:

• We accept applications all year, eliminating blackout periods.
• Candidates can easily access their application status and communicate with the Royal College through the exam application system. 
• We introduced a dedicated phone line and chat feature to facilitate smoother communication between candidates and the Royal College Credentials Unit.
• We significantly decreased the time required to process applications and the number of steps in the process. 

New resources for candidates

We improved the website to make it easier for candidates to navigate. It now includes an interactive tool that guides candidates through the PER process, providing clear access to relevant information tailored to their unique training backgrounds. New graphics also guide candidates to key information.

Additionally, we are developing webinars to support candidates in understanding the updated PER qualification criteria and certification process. After each webinar, information packages will be sent to participants to support their journey.

The value of the PER initiative

The PER initiative plays a crucial role in addressing Canada's health care challenges by expediting the integration of skilled specialists into the health care system. 

Chantal Benoit, Manager, Credentials Unit at the Royal College adds that: "Streamlining the path for competent internationally trained doctors to practice in Canada means they can start caring for patients sooner, leading to better health outcomes and helping to ease the strain on our health care system." 

Collaboration and future directions

Supported by a $1.49 million contribution agreement with Health Canada, the Royal College is working collaboratively with system partners to address the ongoing health human resource crisis while maintaining quality care for Canadians.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.