Royal College Specialty Committee in Radiation Oncology

Chair: Barbara-Ann Millar

• Terms of Reference

  SPECIALTY COMMITTEE

  Role:

  Specialty committees are established for every specialty and subspecialty recognized by the Royal College. The role of a specialty committee is to advise the Royal College on specialtyspecific content issues (e.g., standards, credentials, assessment and accreditation).

  Specialty committees:

  • advise the Committee on Specialties and report on matters including review of specialty/subspecialty status, and review of applications for recognition of a new discipline;

  • advise the Accreditation Committee on matters including the basic accreditation requirements, applications for accreditation of new programs, assessment of presurvey questionnaires and recommendation of accreditation status;

  • advise the Credentials Committee on matters including the Objectives of Training and minimum training requirements for the specialty/subspecialty and assessment of individual credentials;

  • advise the Assessment Committee on matters including the format of the examination and examination board appointments;

  • advise other committees of the Royal College such as the Executive Committee, Regional Advisory Committees and the Biomedical Ethics Committee on matters relevant to the discipline;

  • revise specialty specific documents as needed;

  • liaise with the national specialty society on educational issues and collaborate to ensure the sustained health of the discipline; and

  • if appropriate, oversee an area of focused competence (AFC-diploma). This includes oversight of the discipline specific document development and revision process; and providing consultation on decisions brought forward by the AFC working group/subcommittee on matters relating to review of discipline status, accreditation, and credentialing.

  Generally, committee members should possess the following key competencies:

  • Royal College fellow in good standing

  • Certification and clinical and educational expertise relevant to the specific specialty/subspecialty.

  The usual term of office is one two-year term, renewable twice (maximum of six years).

  Responsibility and Authority:

  Specialty Committees are monitored by the Committee on Specialties and ultimately report to the Education Committee in matters related to the specialty or subspecialty.

  Composition:

  The specialty committee consists of voting and non-voting members. …/2 ~ 2 ~ Updated April 2015 Voting members consist of up to nine members:

  • the chair;

  • vice-chair(s);

  • one member selected to represent each of the five geographical regions in Canada as specified in the bylaw (Bylaw No. 19, Article 11.1.2); and

  • a community-based representative, if applicable.

  In specialties where there is a related stream (e.g., pediatric), the vice-chair should represent the opposite stream from the chair (i.e. pediatric vice-chair if the chair is part of the adult stream). If this is not possible, a second vice-chair will be appointed to represent the related stream.

  Voting members may play an additional role to that of regional representative (e.g., pediatric, observer from the national specialty society, etc.). The practice of including one member in full-time community practice is strongly encouraged.

  Residency program directors have a direct responsibility to their institution, program and trainees which may create a real, potential or perceived conflict with the performance of the responsibilities of a voting member on the Specialty Committee. Therefore, to avoid perceived or potential conflicts of interest, program directors cannot be voting members.

  Non-voting members consist of:

  • the chairs of the English and French examination committees for the specialty/subspecialty;

  • the chair of a parent specialty (for subspecialties), subspecialty (for parent specialties) or other related disciplines;

  • residency program directors;

  • observers representing a national specialty society, a professor’s group, or any outside organization; and

  • other representatives (as required).

  If the specialty committee also encompasses an AFC-diploma, the AFC working group/AFC Committee/AFC Subcommittee chair or representative will participate on the specialty committee as a non-voting member. For information on the role of the AFC working group, committee or subcommittee chair, please refer to the Working Group Terms of Reference. For information on the role of the AFC committee or AFC subcommittee chair, please refer to the Areas of Focused Competence (AFC) Committee Terms of Reference or Areas of Focused Competence (AFC) Subcommittee Terms of Reference.

  Voting Guidelines:

  Half of the committee’s voting members, including the chair, shall constitute a quorum.

  Meetings:

  Each specialty committee must meet at least once per year.

  Updated April 2015