Strategies for Managing/Mitigating Identified Conflicts of Interest

In compliance with the National standard Element 3: The SPC is responsible to review all disclosed financial relationships of all resource persons, including SPC and OPC members, presenters, trainers, moderators, facilitators, authors, etc. in advance of the CPD activity to determine whether action is required to manage potential or real conflicts of interest. The SPC must also have procedures in place to be followed if a conflict of interest comes to its attention prior to or during the CPD activity

Note: the SPC must discuss the above-mentioned key elements during the development phase of the activity and a copy of the discussion such as, meeting minutes, must be included with the accreditation submission consigned to the CPD Office for review. See SPC - Template Meeting Minutes.

A few examples of strategies considered to be adequate to manage or mitigate identified conflicts are:

1. The presenter could be required to alter the focus of the talk to limit the areas where conflict of interest is significant.
2. The presenter will be asked to avoid making personal recommendations and to limit their presentation to a discussion of the evidence.
3. The topic selected could be changed, but the same speaker be used.
4. The Scientific Planning Committee (SPC) could ask for a peer review of the content to ensure that the principles of scientific integrity, objectivity and balance are respected.
5. Both topic and speaker could be excluded from the activity. This is a very uncommon occurrence, but it can be a last resort if a significant conflict of interest cannot be managed.
6. If a conflict of interest is identified for one or more scientific planning committee members, the conflict should be declared to others on the committee and the member could recuse himself or herself from planning decisions relevant to the identified conflict.

For more examples on strategies considered to be adequate in managing/mitigating identified conflicts, consult the following URLs:

• College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) (scroll down to the sub-heading: On conflict of interest)