Part of being a naturopath is continuously improving and updating your knowledge and skills. If you hold a General class certificate of registration with the College, you are required to participate in Continuing Education and Professional Development. This includes engaging in relevant activities and submitting a summary log with supporting documentation when selected.

Continuing Education & Professional Development requirements

General class Registrants are required to participate in a minimum of 70 hours of Continuing Education over a three-year cycle. During the three years, you must receive and document Continuing Education Credits (CECs) in two categories:

• Category A: Core Activities—30 credits. These are pre-approved, structured activities focused on the clinical competencies of the profession.
• Category B: Self-Directed Activities—40 credits. These are professional development activities of any type and area that you choose and do not require pre-approval.

You may also undertake additional credits that further your professional development or serve the public interest. However, you may not bank credits that you have acquired in one three-year reporting period to use in a subsequent period. The required 70 hours of Continuing Education and Professional Development must be claimed in the period in which they are earned.

Category A—Core Activities

These are structured activities focused on the clinical competencies of the profession. They should be relevant to the practice of naturopathy and enhance your competence and understanding of professional standards. You can find a list of the approved courses here. If the course you wish to take is not on the Category A list, you must first submit an application to the QA Committee to have it approved.

For Category A, one hour of Continuing Education equals one credit. The 30 credits in this category include specific requirements:

Jurisprudence

All Registrants must complete a minimum of three CECs in Jurisprudence. This may be achieved by either attending three hours of Jurisprudence education or completing the Jurisprudence Examination after becoming registered with the College.

Prescribing

Registrants who have met the Standard of Practice for Prescribing must complete six CECs in pharmacology.

Intravenous Infusion Therapy (IVIT)

Registrants who have met the standard of practice for IVIT must complete six additional Category A credits related to IVIT, for a total of 36 CECs in Category A at the end of your three-year cycle.

Category B—Self-Directed Activities

Category B activities relate to the ND as a health professional and emphasize community involvement.

Over a three-year period, Registrants must participate in a minimum of 40 CECs through activities that include:

• serving on a College committee, working group or task force, or on the Council;
• serving on the board, committee, working group or task force of a professional association or educational institution;
• supervising a student clinic, providing a preceptorship or overseeing an externship;
• writing and publishing articles or books about naturopathic medicine for any publication in North America;
• reviewing professional journals, textbooks, literature or other materials; or
• attending educational courses related to business practices or modalities related to the profession.

The College does not have to pre-approve the activities in this category. However, the QA Committee may deny activities that do not offer value as a health professional upon review of your summary.

Submitting your Continuing Education and Professional Development Log

At the end of your three-year cycle, you will submit your Continuing Education and Professional Development (CE & PD) Log to the College. Find out when you have to report your CE logs.

This log is a summary of your CE activities over the previous three years. The CE & PD Log consists of three forms (one for Category A, one for Category B and one for IVIT).

You can access the relevant handbooks, forms and guidelines here.