Dr. Ford Bursey is the new assistant dean for Professional Development in the Faculty of Medicine. He takes over as assistant dean at a time when the Office of Professional Development has moved to larger quarters and been restructured to include a number of new positions (see article in Winter MUNMED).

Dr. Bursey became involved with the Office of Professional Development in 2000 as director of continuing medical education (CME) for specialists. This position was created to manage the new needs created by MAINCERT, or Maintenance of Certification, a program initiated by the Royal College to ensure that specialty fellows are involved in professional development activities that enhance the quality of care. Fellows must earn at least 400 credits during each five years of active practice. These credits can be earned through activities recognized by the College, such as rounds, conferences, and structured learning projects.

“There are criteria for each of the different categories of CME activity and the Royal College has six different categories of recognized activity. My job was to review and accredit programs. The program really works on the honor system – about three per cent of specialists are audited annually, and it’s just a matter of supplying certification that the person had actually attended the CME activities they listed.”

As assistant dean, Dr. Bursey now oversees all the operations of the OPD, which include professional development for family medicine physicians and Royal College specialists, faculty development, and the Clinical Skills Assessment and Training Program for physicians who need to upgrade their skills. The office’s new quarters move it closer to the Telehealth and Educational Technology Resource Agency (TETRA) which provides distance education facilities. Dr. Bursey said there is an increasing move to providing CME electronically, so even physicians within the City of St. John’s do not have to travel to another hospital to attend rounds.

Dr. Bursey holds a B.Med.Sc. and M.D. from Memorial and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. Following completion of his MD in 1982 he did a rotating internship followed by a core residency in internal medicine at Memorial. He completed two years of further postgraduate training in gastroenterology in Ottawa and returned to faculty at Memorial in 1988.

In addition to his administrative duties, Dr. Bursey has an active clinical practice as a gastroenterologist with the Health Care Corporation of St. John’s. He is currently serving as the physician representative on the Health Care Foundation Board for the St. John’s Health Care Corporation.

Some of Dr. Bursey’s other involvements in education and administration include a six-year stint as program director for the Internal Medicine Residency training program at Memorial, chair of the Education Committee of the Medical Advisory Committee for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, and a member of the Education Committee of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology.