Supervision
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The pathway to long-term licensure reduces the required time physicians on a Defined licence must practise under supervision.
The Medical Act requires physicians trained outside of Canada to practise under a Defined licence and undergo supervision.
Physicians must meet the requirements and conditions required to obtain a Defined licence.
Supervisors monitor, assess, and support the supervised physician as they work towards long-term licensure. Supervisors ensure access to high-quality patient care for Nova Scotians.
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Minimum Supervision Period
The pathway to long-term licensure reduces the required time physicians on a Defined licence must practise under supervision by 60%.
Physicians issued a Defined licence will have a minimum of six months of supervision to a maximum of 24 months.
Based on our data, we anticipate that 80% of physicians on the pathway will be issued a Restricted licence after six months. A smaller cohort may require up to 24 months of supervision.
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Maximum Supervision Period
If there are ongoing concerns, the physician will continue to practise on a Defined licence and will undergo customized supervision to address the concerns, deficiencies, or areas that were not previously assessed.
- Physicians who remain on a Defined licence will do so for a maximum of 18 additional months (24 months in total).
- They will automatically be referred to the Registration Committee and their licensing decisions will rest with the Committee.
- The Committee will review their supervision reports after a minimum of 6 more months of supervision.
- At any point during the final 18 months, the physician could be issued a Restricted licence, an ongoing Defined licence, or the licence could end.
- After a total of 24 months of supervision, the Registration Committee will decide whether to issue a Restricted licence and may impose additional conditions and restrictions or recommend ending the licence.
We anticipate that approximately 15-20% of physicians will fall into this stream.
Once on a Restricted Licence, the physician can request a practice location change with the College. The key is that it is a similar practice context for which they were assessed under supervision.
There is always the option to work toward a Full licence by challenging the certification exam as long as the physician is eligible to do so.
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Supervision Costs
We anticipate that the supervisor will require 40 hours in six months to complete the work and they will be compensated $6000 for the six months.
The cost to the supervised physician is $7500 for six months (this includes a $1500 College administration fee). For the small number of physicians that require ongoing supervision, there will be additional costs depending upon the length of supervision required.