Our research initiatives help us deliver quality accredited programs. Our list of projects in research, scholarship, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement is continually growing.
About our research program
Research is strategic priority for the CPD Medicine Program, where we aim to grow a sustainable research program in ways that contribute to CPD programming and the CPD scholastic community. Our research program investigates questions relating to continuing professional development in health professions education in a manner which effects meaningful change in clinical practice, with the intent to improve patient and community outcomes.
Our list of projects in research, scholarship, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement is continually growing. If you would like to get involved with our program, please contact:
Past Director of Research: Helen Mawdsley, EdD
Some key research questions
- How do we deliver quality accredited programming which is responsive to practice needs, and supportive of sustained practice change?
- How can we connect continuing professional development and assessment activities to improved patient and community outcomes?
- How is competence maintained, as well as enhanced, in a complex health care system?
As part of our strategic plan, we are committed to advancing educational programming by applying best practices and developing next practices. To follow through on this priority, we are posting resources here which we feel would be of value to the CPD community.
Please feel free to use and adapt these resources for your own needs and context. Then, let us know if they were useful and any revisions you made. We welcome your feedback to inform our own continuous quality improvement.
We use the evaluation template linked below for some of our events.
We use a variety of data sources to inform our needs assessment process. One of these data sources is a survey, linked below.
Recent presentations and publications
Mawdsley H., Soleas, E. (2022, October). Creating Worthy Learning Objectives. Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education CE News.
Mawdsley, H., Polimeni, C., Chapman, L. (2022, October 18) Enhancing EDI in CPD Educational Events through an Online Event Application Form. Poster presentation at the 13th National CPD Accreditation Conference hosted by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Virtual Conference.
Soleas, E., Mawdsley, H. (2022, June 7). Commentary: An Open Letter about Audacious Kindness for the CPD Profession. Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education CE News.
Mawdsley H., Soleas, E. (2022, June 7). Whose Needs are you Assessing Anyway: Why the Unit of Analysis Matters for CPD Needs Assessments. Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education CE News.
Mawdsley H. (2022, April 21). Virtual Focus Group Methodology: A Workshop for Current and Future Leaders in Healthcare. Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education CE News.
Mawdsley, H., Polimeni, C., Toews, J., Soriano, R., Chipman, L., Shonoski, C., Mullen, A., Rainey, D. (2022, April 22) Incorporating EDI into a CPD IQR Project. Oral presentation at Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada CPD Dean’s Retreat, Virtual Conference.
Mawdsley, H., Polimeni, C., Toews, J., Soriano, R., Chipman, L., Shonoski, C., Mullen, A., Rainey, D. (2022, May 13) Incorporating EDI into a CPD IQR Project. Oral presentation at Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada Research Symposium, Virtual Conference.
Shapiro, J., Zakeri, B., Tavares, W., Adewuya, R., Bresnahan, L., Campbell, C., Cervero, R., Filipe, H., Fried, J., Kostic, M., Mawdsley, H., Paton, M., Pizzuti, C., Schneeweiss, S., Shapiro, J., Sockalingam, S., Soklaridis, S., Tremblay, M., Turco, M., Williams, B., Wittich, C. (2022, February 21-23) Scholarship in CME/CPD: An Analysis of Abstracts Presented at the 2022 SACME Virtual Meeting to Inform the State of the Discipline. Oral presentation at Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education 2022 Conference, Virtual Conference.
Diana C. Sanchez-Ramirez, Alexander G. Singer, Leanne Kosowan, Alan Katz and Christine Polimeni. Increasing likelihood of prescribing recommended lipid management: Primary care providers’ participation in cardiology continuing medical education. Canadian Family Physician January 2022, 68 (1) 39-46; DOI:
Soleas, E., Mawdsley H. (2022, January 4). So, Change is Scary. Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education CE News.
Mawdsley, H., Polimeni, C., McSwiggan, J., Mullen, A. , Heintz, R., Schmitz-Forsyth, T., Finney, B., Lori McKenzie, L. (2022, April 18-20) Adaptation of a Skills Workshop: Development and Evaluation of an Online Diabetic Foot Examination for CPD/CME.
Oral presentation at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education, Virtual Conference.
Mawdsley, H., Polimeni, C., Gruber, J., Zakeri, B. (2021, October 5-6) Using Theory to Situate and Develop EDI Initiatives within CPD. Poster presentation at the 12th National CPD Accreditation Conference hosted by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Virtual Conference.
Accepted for presentation at the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education 2022 Conference, February 21-23, 2022, Virtual Conference
Presentation at SACME Virtual Journal Club – CPD and Complexity: Learning in healthcare systems – September 30, 2021
> Link to presentation overview and resources
Mawdsley, H., Soleas, E. (2021, September 1). Using a Common QI Method in a Health Professions Education Context. Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education CE News.
> Link to publication
Sanchez-Ramirez, D. C., Singer, A., Kosowan, L., & Polimeni, C. (2019). Exploring Clinical Care Among Adults With Diabetes Mellitus: Alignment With Recommended Statin and Sulfonylureas Treatment. Canadian journal of diabetes, 43(7), 498–503.
Sanchez-Ramirez Diana C; Singer, Alexander; Kosowan, Leanne; Katz, Alan; Polimeni, Christine. Primary Care Providers Participation in Cardiology-related Continuing Medical Education Increases the Likelihood of Prescribing Recommended Lipid Management.
Accepted for presentation at the 2019 AFMC CPD Research Symposium in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
This study sought to explore if participation in a series of cardiology CME activities has an impact in the lipid management that primary care providers (PCPs) deliver to their patients.