Surgical assistant
Surgical assistant
A surgical assistant must limit their practice of medicine to the provision of surgical assistance and will be required to surrender their privileges, including writing of prescriptions, and pre- and post-operative orders.
Requirements
Registration in the surgical assistant class may be granted to any registrant who was or is currently in the full – family, full – specialty, special, osteopathic, academic, conditional – practice limitations, or conditional – practice setting class.
Exceptions may be made for new applicants who want to be registered and licensed directly in the surgical assistant class.
Eligibility
To be eligible for registration and licensure in the surgical assistant class, an applicant must meet the eligibility requirements for one of the following classes of registration:
- full – family
- full – specialty
- special
- osteopathic
- academic
- conditional – practice limitations
- conditional – practice setting class
New applicants
Applicants who meet the requirements for registration and licensure in the full – family, full – specialty, or osteopathic class should complete an Application for Medical Registration (AMR) through physiciansapply.ca no more than three months prior to their intended start date.
The AMR is downloaded directly to the College’s database for review.
Once College staff confirms that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements, the applicant will be assigned a file manager.
The file manager will email the secondary application package to the applicant.
The applicant submits to the College a fully completed secondary application along with all required documentation.
The file manager will review the completed application to ensure that no additional follow-up is required.
If no additional follow-up is required, the file manager will submit the applicant file for a final review and approval. The review process can take up to one week.
Once the application is reviewed and approved, the applicant will be directed to pay licensure fees. Following the payment of fees, a licence will be issued within three business days.
Maintaining the licence
Ongoing registration and licensure in the surgical assistant class is maintained by
- satisfactory completion of the annual licence renewal form,
- online payment of the annual licence renewal fee as detailed in Schedule A of the College Bylaws,
- payment of any other outstanding fine, fee, penalty fee, debt, levy or costs owed to the College,
- ongoing professional liability coverage or protection, and
- provision of certificates of professional conduct, where applicable.
The annual licence renewal process is accessed through the registrant portal. Registrants will be notified by email of the licence renewal process in late December or early January each year.
Penalties and fines
Registrants must complete the annual licensure process by March 1 to avoid a $500 penalty. The penalty increases by $100 increments each month until the process is completed.
Failure to complete the annual licensure process will also result in the suspension of a registrant’s licence on April 1. The licence will be reinstated when the annual licence renewal form is completed to the satisfaction of the College, and online payment of all outstanding fees and penalties are made.
Renew the licence by March 1 each year
Registrants cannot practise medicine, prescribe or charge for services rendered without being registered with the College.
Surgical assistant registration is cancelled if the registrant ceases to engage in the practice of medicine as described in section 2-33(2) of the College Bylaws.