What is personal development?
Reflecting on our strengths and identifying opportunities for change is the first step towards making personal improvements. When we are our best selves, we’re in a better position to help others.
The personal development component of PPIP allows physicians to use personal reflection and formal feedback to focus on their wellness and gain insight into the CanMEDS attributes of a communicator, professional, scholar, collaborator, health advocate, and leader.
Mandatory elements of a personal development activity
Formal feedback and/or self-reflection data
Examples include:
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- Feedback from peers, learners or patients, which can be gathered through performance reviews from your colleagues, teaching evaluations or patient surveys.
- Physician wellness is critical, as burnout and system stress impact performance. Resources to address these issues may be valuable options.
- Other sources of feedback and self-reflection data include:
- Use multi-source patient feedback from resources like MCC 360 or PULSE 360, or wellness information such as fatigue and burnout scale results (e.g. Maslach Burnout Inventory). Then complete a multi-source feedback review.
| The Medical Council of Canada’s MCC 360 qualifies as a personal development activity and CPSA will cover the costs for physicians who volunteer to participate. Find out more and contact CPSA if you are interested in signing up. |
Mandatory facilitation of your data.
- Facilitation with a colleague, supervisor, trained coach or facilitator or other qualified individual is mandatory for a personal development activity, to help you frame and objectively interpret your data in a constructive manner, look at it in context and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Dedicated modules for self-facilitated reflection can be used to complete a personal development activity.
- Resources and tools are available through Alberta’s Physician Learning Program, the University of Calgary’s My Practice Improvement (MyPI) or the University of Alberta’s My Lifelong Learning Plan (My L3 Plan).
- R2C2 is an evidence-based model for providing feedback and coaching through interactive conversation.
Developing and documenting an action plan
- You must create an action plan to capture how you plan to address your opportunities for improvement.
- We recommend using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely) goals to increase the likelihood of success.
- You may also want to familiarize yourself with the iterative nature of quality improvement, for example by reviewing the PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycle.
- Use our template to identify all the elements expected from a robust personal development activity. You can also create your own template.
Examples of PPIP activities
If you’re looking for some inspiration, we have examples of all three activities, including action plans, submitted by Alberta physicians who have met their PPIP requirements.
| PPIP supports the use of data in an ethical manner. CPSA encourages physicians to use the following free resource and support tools if there are questions regarding ethical data usage: Alberta Innovates: A Project Ethics Community Consensus Initiative (ARECCI) |
Personal Development Resources
For more resources to help you complete this PPIP activity, click on All Resources and filter by "Personal Development"
All ResourcesPersonal Development FAQs
All FAQsWhat is personal development?
Reflecting on our strengths and identifying opportunities for change is the first step towards making personal improvements. When we are our best selves, we’re in a better position to help others.
How can I start a personal development activity for the Physician Practice Improvement Program?
Using personal reflection and feedback allows physicians to recognize the value of being their very best selves on a personal level. Here are some options to help you start on a path of personal development:
- Complete a multi-source feedback review (such as the Medical Council of Canada’s MCC 360 or Pulse 360). CPSA is currently covering the costs for physicians who volunteer to participate in the MCC 360 program. To ensure there are no costs to physicians who choose to volunteer, please email ppip@cpsa.ab.ca to begin the initiation processes.
- Review patient feedback such as HQCA Surveying Patients About Primary Care Experience.
- Review feedback from peers, learners and patients with your direct supervisor or a facilitator. This feedback could be gathered through performance reviews from your colleagues, teaching evaluations or patient surveys.
- Physician wellness is critical as burnout and system stress impact performance. Resources to address these issues may be valuable options.
- Engage a peer for facilitated debriefing, to identify areas for improvement and for help establishing your action plan.
- Work with a certified coach to take a deeper dive into your personal development (one option is to engage a Certified Executive Coach).
- Develop an action plan.
Do I need facilitation as part of my PPIP activity?
Facilitation is mandatory for a personal development activity, and is encouraged for the practice-driven and standard of practice activities. Facilitation helps with objectively interpreting the data, looking at it in context and identifying opportunities.
A facilitator can be a colleague, supervisor, trained coach or facilitator, or other individual who is qualified to assist you in framing your data in a constructive manner.
Dedicated modules for self-facilitated reflection are also acceptable. Resources and tools are available for self-reflection through the Physician Learning Program, My Practice Improvement (MyPi) or MyL3Plan. Additionally, R2C2 is an evidence-based model for providing feedback and coaching through interactive conversation.
Do PPIP activities qualify for continuing professional development (CPD) credits?
Certain competence programs which also meet the requirements of a PPIP activity do qualify for CPD credits:
- A Group Practice Review (GPR) meets the requirements of PPIP’s standards of practice quality improvement activity. General practitioners and family physicians who participate in GPR are eligible for 13.5 Mainpro+ credits through the College of Family Physicians of Canada, while specialists may be eligible for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credits through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
- The Medical Council of Canada’s MCC 360 meets the requirements of PPIP’s personal development activity. General practitioners and family physicians who participate in MCC 360 are eligible for Mainpro+ credits through the College of Family Physicians of Canada, while specialists may be eligible for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credits through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
To find out if any other work you’ve done as part of a PPIP activity qualifies for CPD credits, please reach out to your national college.
Find out more about PPIP's other activities
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