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* The Chair will vote only in the event of a tie. 

** Members of the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Professionalism Committee must recuse themselves from participating in the selection and promotion committee decisions and discussions related to learner/trainee cases referred to the Professionalism Committee.

Quorum will be five (5) voting members, one (1) of which must be the Chair and one (1) resident representative.

The Assistant Dean of the relevant academic unit (UGME or PGME) must be present during committee meetings to ensure accurate interpretation of policies and procedures.

Faculty members will be appointed by the Faculty Nominating Committee (FNC).

Resident members will be appointed by PARO.  Residents must be in good standing to participate on the committee.  If a resident loses their good standing status while on the committee, PARO will be notified and will be asked to provide a replacement.

The student member will be appointed by the ASOC.  The medical student must be in good standing with no known professionalism concerns to participate in the committee. If a student loses their good standing status while on the committee, ASOC will be notified and will be asked to provide a replacement. 

* Existing members of the Professionalism Subcommittee will continue to serve on the committee until their term expires or until they voluntarily step down. *

• The Committee will meet to review and adjudicate on reports at a Level 2 if required, and all Level 3 as per the Professionalism Policy, which involves medical students and postgraduate trainees as respondents.
   

• The committee may need to hold multiple meetings during the process to meet with the reporter, witnesses, respondent, and other relevant parties.
   

• Committee members are expected to attend at least 75% of meetings over the academic year.  Inability to attend the required percentage of meetings may result in removal from the committee by the Chair.

A member of the Committee should recuse themself when dealing with a matter where the member:

• was materially involved in the completion of an evaluation and/or
• made a recommendation and/or rendered a decision in the matter which is the subject of the report; and/or
• has a personal relationship with the medical student, or postgraduate trainee.

Before considering any case, the Chair will disclose any conflict they have and require committee members to also declare any conflicts they may have. The Committee may also require a member to recuse themselves where the Committee determines that there could exist a reasonable apprehension of bias. All potential conflicts and concerns of bias will be reviewed by the Committee who will decide by vote if the declarations should result in the member recusing themselves from discussion.  These declarations and decisions will be noted in the official minutes of the Committee. 

At the request of the Vice-Dean PGME or delegate, Vice-Dean UGME or delegate, in relation to a medical student or postgraduate trainee responding to professionalism reports deemed at a Level 2 if required and all Level 3 as per the Professionalism Policy, the Committee:

• Reviews and renders a decision on an investigation process. 
   

The Committee may in assessing the evidence on a standard of balance of probabilities:

• Find the details of the report valid;

• Find some of the details of the report to be valid;

• Find the alleged incident in the report to be unsubstantiated at this point and further investigations are needed; or

• Find the alleged incident in the report to be unsubstantiated and no further investigations are needed.

The Committee will, if there is a determination that the report is valid, determine whether there was a violation of the Professionalism Policy.

The decision of the Committee will be by a show of hands and will be determined by a majority of the voting members present. 

The Chair will vote only in the event of a tie. 

The decision of the Committee will be recorded in the meeting minutes of the Committee. Individual votes will not be recorded.

The Committee will determine the appropriate course of action, which may include but are not limited to, additional monitoring, referral to services (e.g., Ontario Medical Association Physician Health Program), course failure, remediation, probation, suspension or dismissal.  

The Chair of the Committee will prepare an annual report to summarize the activities of the Committee to:

• The Vice Dean PGME and Post Graduate Education Committee (PGEC) on postgraduate trainee cases;  
  

• The Vice Dean UGME and Undergraduate Education Committee (UGEC) on medical student cases;
   

• The Dean and Faculty Council. 

There will not be any disclosure of the name(s) of the respondents, reporter or witnesses involved. The report may also propose any general recommendations to improve professionalism within each of the educational units or the Faculty at large.

The documents provided to the Committee at meetings shall be retained by the Senior Administrator, Academic Governance of the Committee. 

All deliberations of the Committee and all information received by the Committee shall be confidential except for such disclosure as is necessary for the Committee’s investigations and reports.

All committee members must acknowledge that all discussions, documents, and correspondence, regardless of their manner of transmission, are deemed confidential and must always remain confidential. Committee members are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.  All information received and transmitted must be handled in accordance with the University of Ottawa’s policy 117. Items may be requested via the University of Ottawa’s Access to Information and Privacy Office, in accordance with Policy 90.

Hickson GB, Pichert JW, Webb LE, Gabbe SG. A complementary approach to promoting professionalism: identifying, measuring, and addressing unprofessional behaviors. Acad Med. 2007 Nov;82(11):1040-8. PubMed PMID: 17971689. Epub 2007/11/01. 

These terms of reference should be reviewed every three (3) years.