A Longitudinal Study of Alternatively Licensed Career and Technical Teachers

Retaining qualified career and technical education teachers (CTE) is crucial to the continued supply and reduced demand of these types of teachers. Demographic data and emerging trends of CTE teachers were analyzed for those teachers who completed a summer workshop as part of alternative licensure. Some of the emerging trends included shifts in retention rates during certain school years, years in which enrollment was highest for each gender, and changes in employment status within education. Conclusions and discussions derived from the study were a need for teacher educators to become aware of a diverse classroom of alternative CTE teachers, CTE teachers completing continuing education and degree requirements, and legislative policies that impact retention rates.

Primary care performance of alternatively licenced physicians in Ontario, Canada: a cross-sectional study using administrative data

ObjectivesMedical Regulatory Authorities (MRAs) provide licences to physicians and monitor those physicians once in practice to support their continued competence. In response to physician shortages, many Canadian MRAs developed alternative licensure routes to allow physicians who do not meet traditional licensure criteria to obtain licences to practice. Many physicians have gained licensure through alternative routes, but the performance of these physicians in practice has not been previously examined. This study compared the performance of traditionally and alternatively licenced physicians in Ontario using quality indicators of primary care. The purpose of this study was to examine the practice performance of alternatively licenced physicians and provide evaluative evidence for alternative licensure policies.DesignA cross-sectional retrospective examination of Ontario health administrative data was conducted using Poisson regression analyses to compare the performance of traditionally and alternatively licenced physicians.SettingPrimary care in Ontario, Canada.ParticipantsAll family physicians who were licenced in Ontario between 2000 and 2012 and who had complete medical billing data in 2014 were included (n=11 419).Outcome measuresPrimary care quality indicators were calculated for chronic disease management, preventive paediatric care, cancer screening and hospital readmission rates using Ontario health administrative data.ResultsAlternatively licenced physicians performed similarly to traditionally licenced physicians in many primary care performance measures. Minimal differences were seen across groups in indicators of diabetic care, congestive heart failure care, asthma care and cancer screening rates. Larger differences were found in preventive care for children less than 2 years of age, particularly for alternatively licenced physicians who entered Ontario from another Canadian province.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that alternatively licenced physicians perform similarly to traditionally licenced physicians across many indicators of primary care. Our study also demonstrates the utility of administrative data for examining physician performance and evaluating medical regulatory policies and programmes.

The influence of globalization on medical regulation: a descriptive analysis of international medical graduates registered through alternative licensure routes in Ontario

The increasing globalization of the medical profession has influenced health policy, health human resource planning, and medical regulation in Canada. Since the early 2000s, numerous policy initiatives have been created to facilitate the entry of international medical graduates (IMGs) into the Canadian workforce. In Ontario, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) developed alternative licensure routes to increase the ability of qualified IMGs to obtain licenses to practice. The current study provides demographic and descriptive information about the IMGs registered through the CPSO’s alternative licensure routes between 2000 and 2012. An analysis of the characteristics and career trajectories of all IMGs practicing in the province sheds light on broader globalization trends and raises questions about the future of health human resource planning in Canada. As the medical profession becomes increasingly globalized, health policy and regulation will continue to be influenced by trends in international migration, concerns about global health equity, and the shifting demographics of the Canadian physician workforce. Implications for future policy development in the complex landscape of medical education and practice are discussed.

Perceptions of Preparation of Online Alternative Licensure Teacher Candidates

This chapter seeks to investigate the perceived sense of preparation for the classroom that leads to teacher effectiveness. The focus of this chapter is an exploration of the increasing role of alternative licensure and distance education in the preparation of teachers and results of a recent study concerning perceptions of a sense of preparedness espoused by alternative licensure teacher candidates after their online program completion.