Peer and practice assessments are a key component of the College’s Quality Assurance Program, providing a supportive way for midwives to demonstrate their professional knowledge, skills, and judgment with a peer assessor.
They are grounded in the assumption that midwives are practising competently while recognizing that the changing dynamics of practice environments and best practices create the need for continued learning and development.
Peer Assessment
Each year, a number of registrants in the general or supervised practice class will be randomly selected to participate in the assessment. The midwives selected for participation will be notified by email in early January.
A peer assessment is conducted virtually between the assessor and the midwife being assessed, and takes about an hour to complete. It consists of short, scenario-based questions that allow midwives to demonstrate their knowledge of midwifery practice, professional standards, and the regulations that govern the profession.
Midwives who score below 75% on the peer assessment will be scheduled for a practice assessment at their place of practice. The practice assessment includes:
- review of a small selection of the midwife’s charts,
- an interview about the care provided to the selected client charts, and
- discussion of the midwife’s QAP submissions from the previous five years.
The practice assessment takes about three to four hours to complete, giving the midwife and their assessor time to have more substantive discussions about the midwife’s approach to care and talk through feedback on potential areas for improvement.
For more information, please read the Practice Assessment Chart Tool.
Assessors use the information gathered during the practice assessment to summarize the midwife’s knowledge and application of midwifery legislation, standards, and best practices in the provision of client care.
Evaluations are completed in a fair and consistent manner and are based on the College’s competency framework. The final report of the practice assessment is forwarded to the College’s Quality Assurance Committee (QAC).
A panel from the QAC reviews the practice assessment reports to determine the outcomes and recommendations, if any, to the assessed midwife.
To learn more about the assessment process and potential outcomes, please read the Peer & Practice Assessment Policy.