The College of Physicians and surgeons of British Columbia is the governed body situated in Vancouver, British Columbia, registered under the Health Professions Act1. Medical professionals follow the rules and regulations made under this act in the province of BC.
British Columbia is known to be the most popular province in Canada. British Columbia has one of the globally top-rated public and private colleges and universities that offer admissions in various courses. With lush geography and rich history, the place is also known for its comprehensive educational system.
It has some of the best public and private schools providing education in English and French (Canada’s official language) and offering admissions to most international students across the globe. Altogether, the state of Canada is ranked among the top 5 countries for providing the best education in the world.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia
The regulatory body that regulates the practice of medicine in the province is the College of Physicians and Surgeons BC. All the physicians and surgeons qualified to practice and conduct medicinal practice must be registered under the authority.
It is a board of council of 15 members, of which 10 are peer-elected physicians, and the rest 5 are representatives of the public responsible for the College’s governance.
1. Guidelines
A specific set of guidelines has to be followed by the medical practitioner to practice, which is as follows:
(i) It has to ensure the academic potential and competency of the candidate to be able to practice.
(ii) The candidate must provide the basic diagnostic, medical, and surgical facilities in private or public practice with quality standards per accredited under the College.
(iii) The College must respond to the patient’s complaints and address them.
(iv) Any illegal or unfair means of practice by the medical professional is liable to face repercussions by the College.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC is registered under the authority of the provincial law, which has to abide by the practice of medicine in British Columbia. It ensures physicians meet expected standards to operate followed by the family physicians and surgeons.
2. Objectives
The regulatory body of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC works and conducts based upon the 4 principles: Transparency, Objectivity, Impartiality, and Fairness2.
(i) The initial duty of the College is to the public. So, the regulating body must be transparent in its policies and essential information and maintain the same set of expected standards in the practice of medicine.
(ii) The objective behind the important decisions should be clear, evidence-based, and account for various opinions and perspectives.
(iii) Fairness and no impartiality in the decisions and individual conduct should always be on the agenda of a regulating body.
3. Accreditation Programs
The two sets of programs carried out under this head are the diagnostic accredited program and the non-hospital medical and surgical facilities accreditation program.
Some accredited facilities are a part of this program. There is a range of services provided by the College of Physicians under these programs for the public health of British Columbia.
4 Website of College
There is a well-updated and informative website of the College which presents when researched on Google. From the latest news, accredited facilities, expected standards of care for the public, and the code of conduct of the British Columbia physicians are all well mentioned.
It is a well-managed and organized portal for the physicians and surgeons and the public of British Columbia and they also ensure physicians and surgeons of British Columbia are well-connected to this portal. The first registration or the renewal certificates under the Health Professions Act of the College are all made less tedious with this portal.
All the necessary information is well-placed and available on the site. Finding your relevant physician, family physician, or surgeon is more accessible. All the professional standards of health care and guidelines to practice medicine can be looked for here.
The website has an easy-to-use and browse interface working as a suitable college connector with the public of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The College of physicians and surgeons of British Columbia is a non-profit organization whose interests only lie in providing the standard and quality of care from the physicians to the patients of British Columbia. Moreover, the overriding interest in the protection and safety of patients is another reason why this institute is trusted by thousands of patients. A lot of research is available under one banner, which is an excellent preview to look for your choice of doctor in the health profession.
- Wilbur, Kirsten, et al. “Developing workforce diversity in the health professions: a social justice perspective.” Health Professions Education 6.2 (2020): 222-229. ↩︎
- Khanna, Shivansh, and Shraddha Srivastava. “Patient-centric ethical frameworks for privacy, transparency, and bias awareness in deep learning-based medical systems.” Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing 3.1 (2020): 16-35. ↩︎
Last Updated on by Sanjana
