Name change suggested for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 67, No. 5, June 2025, Page 158 Letters
By: Eugene Leduc, MD

As we review proposed bylaw changes of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) under the 2022 Health Professions and Occupations Act, we might want to reflect on and recommend a new name for the CPSBC that is more congruent with what it has become. Despite its recent rebranding, the word college no longer seems to fit.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines college as “an organized society of persons performing certain common functions and possessing special rights and privileges; a body of colleagues, a guild, fellowship, association.”[1]

When I gratefully received my licence to practise in 1987, I was registered as a member of the CPSBC. We are no longer considered members but are now registrants. Under the new bylaws, we will be referred to as licensees.

Ten years ago, the CPSBC stopped supporting the Physician Health Program. In 2022, the CPSBC surveyed its registrants and found that only one in five thought it was trusted, fair, and accessible; only 14% considered it approachable; and only 12% said it was transparent.[2] None of this fits well with “a body of colleagues, a guild, fellowship” or even an “association” to which one would voluntarily belong.

Another definition of college is “a society of scholars . . . formed for purposes of study or instruction.”[1] Last year, the CPSBC closed its medical library and ceased its services that supported the research and continuing education of its registrants.

Perhaps Doctors of BC can advocate for a name change for the CPSBC that more accurately reflects its evolving function. We have only to look to other jurisdictions, like the United Kingdom or Australia, for inspiration. For example, we could be proud licensees of the new General Medical Council of BC or the BC Medical Licensing Board.
—Eugene R. Leduc, MD
Victoria

hidden

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

1.    Oxford English Dictionary. College. Accessed 18 April 2025. www.oed.com/dictionary/college_n.

2.    Oetter HM. Registrar’s message: The College rebrands—A summary of registrant feedback and an update on our progress. College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC. College Connector 2022;10. Accessed 18 April 2025. www.cpsbc.ca/news/publications/college-connector/2022-V10-05/01.

Eugene Leduc, MD. Name change suggested for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC. BCMJ, Vol. 67, No. 5, June, 2025, Page(s) 158 - Letters.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

Leave a Reply