Supports to RMT Competence from RMTAO Membership
Supports to RMT Competence from RMTAO Membership
BlogImage
As you may know, the CMTO outlined several different risks to dyscompetence and supports to RMT competence as part of their risk-based assessment process.
As a reminder, dyscompetence is the state of being less than fully competent. If you have any risk factors, this won’t guarantee dyscompetence, it will just increase the risk. Similarly, supports are opportunities that will protect you from dyscompetence. They won’t guarantee against dyscompetence, but will make it less likely.
There are several supports to RMT competence which can come from RMTAO membership, which are outlined below.
Professional Support Networks
Having a strong network, which can include a network of colleagues, is a strong support to competence. The Community-Based Networks (CBNs), formed and supported by the RMTAO, are an important support to competence.
CBNs are local groups of RMTs, led by a volunteer coordinator, who meet regularly to discuss situations in their practices and professional obligations and share knowledge about different conditions they encounter to treatment approaches they’ve taken.
CBNs can support your competence by being available to help solve a difficult practice situation or discuss new practice ideas.
CBNs hold regular meetings both virtually and in person. If an RMT regularly attends CBN meetings and is regularly in touch with the CBN coordinator and fellow CBN attendees, this is a support to RMT competence.
All RMTs in Ontario are welcome to attend CBN meetings, not just RMTAO members. If there isn’t a CBN in your area, you’re welcome to start one. Check out the CBN page for an up-to-date list of current CBNs.
Keeping Up-to-Date
Participating regularly in continuing professional development to enhance your skills is one support to competence that helps keep you up to date. The RMTAO offers a variety of continuing education opportunities both in-person and through virtual webinars. These educational opportunities are based on the latest available evidence and are a great way to keep up-to-date with the latest information about massage therapy for specific populations and conditions, best practices in massage therapy business, and new massage therapy research.
Regularly reading new relevant information is another way to keep up-to-date that is considered a support to competence. The articles in the RMTAO quarterly magazine Massage Therapy Today are always based on the latest available evidence and are highly applicable to RMTAO membership. We also regularly share blog posts about the diverse benefits of massage therapy which are based on the latest available research. By regularly reading your copy of Massage Therapy Today, and reading our blog posts (and blog posts are publicly available, regardless of membership status), you are also supporting your competence.
Continuing Professional Development
Continuing Professional Development is part of keeping up to date but is also a support to competence on its own. Participating in three or more continuing professional development activities over the year is what is required to be considered a support to competence. The RMTAO holds multiple webinars per month and regular in-person courses. We also hold an annual education conference that features a variety of different sessions to choose from.
Professional Organization Participation Activities
If you participate in your professional organization’s activities, that is a support to your competence. The RMTAO is the only professional organization in Ontario representing Ontario RMTs, and we have a variety of activities that RMTs can participate in which would support their competence.
The RMTAO activities that support competence include:
- Regularly reading our weekly e-newsletter, The Friday File, or our quarterly magazine, Massage Therapy Today.
- Visit RMTAO.com to review our blog, our Annual Report, our programs, our resources, or other pages available.
- Attending our Annual General Meeting or a Town Hall event to hear more about the latest RMTAO activities.
- Attending the RMTAO Education Conference to hear about hot topics in the massage therapy profession.
- Participating in one of the RMTAO volunteer committees, or volunteer for the RMTAO in any other way.
Although your participation in RMTAO activities can be due to personal or professional preferences or priorities, never participating can be considered a risk to dyscompetence. Although there can be a financial barrier for some, many ways you can participate, do not require you to be an RMTAO member, or do not require any additional financial investment.
Workplace Setting Structures for Support
If a practice setting does not offer effective structures that enable reflection, feedback and coaching, competence can be negatively impacted over time.
If a health professional develops their own network of effective structures that enable reflection, feedback and coaching, which can be facilitated through RMTAO opportunities, their competence is currently supported, though in time, if their practice setting does not offer these structures, their competence can be negatively impacted.
The RMTAO offers opportunities that can help support your competence while you either advocate for change in your current practice setting so they begin offering effective structures for reflection, feedback and coaching, or begin in a new practice setting that does offer these effective structures.
These RMTAO opportunities include:
- Informal opportunities for regular feedback/mentorship if you regularly attend meetings of your local Community-Based Network.
- Informal opportunities to teach massage therapy students about the benefits of RMTAO membership and RMTAO activities if you volunteer as a school ambassador.
- Informal opportunities to teach colleagues by volunteering to be a featured speaker at a CBN meeting.
- Formal opportunities to teach colleagues by submitting a proposal to teach a webinar, an in-person course or a conference session.
Team Supports and Operational Resources
Having a safe practice environment and having access to supports can support competence and reduce the risk of dyscompetence. Supports include access to coaching and feedback, access to needed clinical equipment and office supplies, access to information technology and systems, access to orientation resources and ongoing educational sessions, supportive operational meetings and peer discussions, and supportive team social events.
If your practice setting doesn’t offer these supports, there are other things RMTs can do to support their competence, including fostering a team culture which can begin by hosting a team social event, doing operational tasks with another team member to foster trust and create informal opportunities for mentorship and feedback, modelling receiving constructive feedback by owning mistakes and asking for help, and hiring independent contractors to help with operational tasks.
The RMTAO can also help develop these supports by:
- Helping you develop virtual professional networks through virtual CBN meetings and Facebook groups created by CBNs.
- Offering available discounts on needed information technology systems, including discounts on practice management software and point-of-sale systems.
- Providing resources to help in clinical practice include sample templates for consent, health history and other forms.
This is just a summary of the supports to competence, and how they may relate to activities associated with RMTAO membership. The CMTO has also provided access to a full Guide to Risks and Supports Affecting Health Professional Competence that you can review at any time.
References that Helped Develop these Supports
Brinkman WB, Geraghty SR, Lanphear BP, Khoury JC, Gonzalez del Rey JA, Dewitt TG, Britto MT. Effect of multisource feedback on resident communication skills and professionalism: a randomized controlled trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007 Jan;161(1):44-9. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.161.1.44. PMID: 17199066.
Eva KW, Armson H, Holmboe E, Lockyer J, Loney E, Mann K, Sargeant J. Factors influencing responsiveness to feedback: on the interplay between fear, confidence, and reasoning processes. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2012 Mar;17(1):15-26. doi: 10.1007/s10459-011-9290-7. Epub 2011 Apr 6. PMID: 21468778; PMCID: PMC3274671.
Fidler H, Lockyer JM, Toews J, Violato C. Changing physicians' practices: the effect of individual feedback. Acad Med. 1999 Jun;74(6):702-14. doi: 10.1097/00001888-199906000-00019. PMID: 10386101.
Glover Takahashi S, Nayer M, St Amant LMM. Epidemiology of competence: a scoping review to understand the risks and supports to competence of four health professions. BMJ Open. 2017 Sep 1;7(9):e014823. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014823. PMID: 28864686; PMCID: PMC5588989.
Kain NA, Hodwitz K, Yen W, Ashworth N. Experiential knowledge of risk and support factors for physician performance in Canada: a qualitative study. BMJ Open. 2019 Feb 22;9(2):e023511. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023511. PMID: 30798305; PMCID: PMC6398643.
Lysaght RM, Altschuld JW, Grant HK, Henderson JL. Variables affecting the competency maintenance behaviors of occupational therapists. Am J Occup Ther. 2001 Jan-Feb;55(1):28-35. doi: 10.5014/ajot.55.1.28. PMID: 11216363.
Mark S, Gupta J. Reentry into clinical practice: challenges and strategies. JAMA. 2002 Sep 4;288(9):1091-6. doi: 10.1001/jama.288.9.1091. PMID: 12204077.
Markert RJ, O'Neill SC, Bhatia SC. Using a quasi-experimental research design to assess knowledge in continuing medical education programs. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2003 Summer;23(3):157-61. doi: 10.1002/chp.1340230306. PMID: 14528786.
Parcsi L, Curtin M. Experiences of occupational therapists returning to work after maternity leave. Aust Occup Ther J. 2013 Aug;60(4):252-9. doi: 10.1111/1440-1630.12051. Epub 2013 Jun 16. PMID: 23888975.
Wenghofer EF, Marlow B, Campbell C, Carter L, Kam S, McCauley W, Hill L. The relationship between physician participation in continuing professional development programs and physician in-practice peer assessments. Acad Med. 2014 Jun;89(6):920-7. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000243. PMID: 24871244.