Collegial Relationship Meetings
A collegial relationship is an on-going formal relationship between two doctors. The purpose of this relationship is to provide guidance and mentorship for doctors registered in a general scope, with the objectives of maintaining safe clinical practice and facilitating CPD.
The doctor providing collegial support should be a role model of good medical practice, a sounding board for the doctor and a resource in times of difficulty. It is important to note that the collegial relationship is not a supervisory relationship and colleagues are not required to supervise a doctor’s practice. Neither is the colleague responsible or liable for a doctors clinical decisions, unless the colleague has been directly involved in the care of the doctors’ patients.
Collegial Relationship
All doctors need personal, educational and professional support throughout their careers. A collegial relationship is one way of providing such support, as the person providing the collegial relationship can offer a valuable source of mentoring. Mentoring is a type of formal social support that is important for medical professional development for both career selection and advancement.
To make the most out of the mentoring process, it is worth remembering that mentoring is a shared job. While the colleague may provide the support, the doctor must be open and receptive to the feedback, and trust the colleague to speak openly to them.
Roles and Responsibilities
Colleagues should be a role model of good medical practice, a sounding board for the doctor and a resource in times of difficulty. It is important to note that the collegial relationship is not a supervisory relationship and colleagues are not required to supervise a doctor’s practice. Neither is the colleague responsible or liable for a doctors clinical decisions, unless the colleague has been directly involved in the care of the doctor’s patients.
The doctor is responsible for maintaining the collegial relationship. This means they are required to:
- Organise meetings, and
- Ensure adequate records of the meetings with their colleague are recorded in their ePortfolio
The responsibilities of the colleague providing the collegial relationship are to:
- Be available for meetings
- Ensure the doctor is not professionally isolated
- Review, with the doctor, the appropriateness of the activities recorded in the doctors ePortfolio
- Assist the doctor to review feedback on their practice
To support the colleague in meeting these responsibilities, InPractice will provide the colleague with independent access to the doctor’s ePortfolio, allowing them to review the doctor’s progress at their convenience. InPractice also provides a collegial relationship interaction guide including advice on establishing successful mentoring relationships.
Support from the InPractice medical advisors will be available for colleagues experiencing difficulties with, or having concerns about, the doctor they are acting as a colleague for.
Standard for completion
InPractice members must record in their ePortfolio a minimum of four collegial relationship meetings per annum. Ideally, these meetings occur at regular intervals throughout the course of the year.
Below you’ll find a list of suggested topics to guide the content of your collegial relationship meetings.
Many of these suggestions focus on activities recorded within the doctor’s ePortfolio, therefore it will be useful to have access to the internet during meetings
Topic suggestions:
- Professional development plan
- Reviewing colleague feedback
- Reviewing peer review activities
- Reviewing continuing medical education (CME) activities
- Regular practice review visit
- Audit
- Discussions of non-clinical issues
- Self care and career planning
- Peer relationships
- Future planning, including moving to vocational training or planning retirement
Quality standard
A record of each collegial relationship meeting should contain the following information:
- Date
- Type of interaction
- Topics discussed
- Notes from the meeting
- Comments from the colleague (optional)