Dr. Nicole Petrov was recently selected by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSO) to become one of its peer auditors.
In that position, she will travel around the province several times a month and evaluate the practices of other physicians.
The CPSO is the governing body for all doctors in Ontario, and as part of their quality assurance program, a small, select group of physicians is chosen to assess medical practices of doctors to ensure they are upholding the top standards for patient care and medical documentation.
Petrov said in an interview on Monday she is unsure how many auditors there are in Ontario, but she noted that when she received her auditor training recently, there were ten doctors involved.
She said the doctor who completed her audit has been doing them for over 20 years, and recommended she receive the appointment.
She received very high marks when she was audited.
“It’s quite a flattering position,” she said of the appointment.
Dr. Petrov said the idea behind the program is to ensure that all doctors are following the best practices for such things as record keeping, referrals, and patient care.
She said she expects that her new post will bring benefits to her own practice because she expects to learn from other doctors while she does her evaluation of them.
“It’s a great education,” she said of her opportunity.
She explained, “I get to learn things from their practice, and I can bring them back to our community.”
She said doctors are audited about five years after they begin their own practices, and then they are audited randomly for the rest of their careers, with a select number chosen for the process every year.
Dr. Petrov said that she can help to determine the best ways to treat patients in her own practice, and with this new job she gets to have an effect on the way other doctors treat their patients.
