Hearing Instrument Practitioners – Resources

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Standards of Practice

Under section 19 of the Health Professions Act, the College Board may “establish standards, limits or conditions” for the practice of registrants. The College’s standards of practice and associated Clinical Decision Support Tools (CDST) are described in the Standards of Practice.

The Standards of Practice outline the minimum level of acceptable performance for registrants. The standards are enforceable under governing legislation as well as the core competencies for each profession regulated by the College. There are two types of standards:

Professional Standards

These are statements about levels of personal performance that registrants are required to achieve when practising. Professional Standards:

  • Reflect the values of professions regulated by the College
  • Clarify expectations of registrants as health care professionals
  • Represent the criteria against which practice in BC can be measured by clients, employers, colleagues, other registrants, and members of the public

Clinical Practice Standards

These are statements designed to guide a registrant’s practice with clients and set out levels of performance that registrants are required to achieve when practicing. The Clinical Practice Standards are complementary to the Professional Standards. Specific practice standards apply to clinical aspects of practice and to certain types of diagnoses, disorders, or conditions.

Notices to the Professions

The College has advised registrants of profession-specific information in the following Notices to the Professions:

February 17, 2016: Use of Nasal Decongestants for Fiberendoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FFES)

Quality Assurance

The Health Professions Act and CHCPBC Bylaws require that the College maintain a quality assurance program to promote high practice standards among registrants.

The College’s Quality Assurance (QA) program consists of three modules:

  • Practice Reviews
  • Practice Hours
  • Continuing Competency Credits (CCCs)

All RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs must meet their QA requirements to be able to renew registration.

Completion of CSHBC online learning courses earns credits toward registrants’ CCCs requirements.

By participating in the QA program throughout the year, RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs demonstrate to the public – for whom the College is mandated to protect – that they are maintaining their competence to practise and that they take their professional development and maintenance obligation seriously. Meeting this obligation is an important way to uphold the public’s trust in our College’s professions.

Questions about the QA program should be directed to QAprograms@chcpbc.org.

Practice Reviews

The Practice Review module of the Quality Assurance (QA) Program is a measure of practice competence within the clinical setting.

For more information on Practice Reviews please click here

Practice Hours

Practice hours are a Quality Assurance (QA) Program measure to ensure recency of practice.

All RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs are responsible for attaining the minimum number of practice hours required in the College’s three-year cycle for practice hours: 750 hours over three years for their primary registration and 250 additional hours for each subsequent registration that the registrant holds. The required 250 hours must be directly related to the profession of the additional registration(s).

RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs who were registered as of January 1, 2022, must report 750 practice hours for their primary registration by December 31, 2024. For those registered at any time during the current cycle, your registration approval package will indicate the prorated number of practice hours that you must report by the December 31, 2024 deadline.

Registrants with two or more registrations are required to complete and report additional practice hours by December 31, 2024.

Renewal of Certified Practice (CP) certificates is contingent on reporting a minimum number of practice hours for each certificate, determined by the QA Committee and specific to the area of practice pertaining to that certificate. Registrants must ensure that they attribute the practice hours to the correct CP Certificate.

See Attaining & Maintaining Practice Competence  for more information.

The three-year reporting cycles for practice hours and continuing competency credits (CCCs) are aligned. The current cycles for both requirements run from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2024.

The required number of practice hours is indicated in your Registrant Portal account. You must report enough practice hours to reduce your balance in the Portal to zero. There is no requirement to report more than the number of hours indicated in the portal. Registrants must ensure that all hours reported reflect true practice hours in their profession(s). For more information, see Acceptable Practice Hours below.

Who needs to attain the required practice hours

The practice hours requirement applies to:

  • Full registrants, including those holding CP certificates
  • Non-practising registrants — those wishing to convert back to Full registration status will need to demonstrate they have completed and reported the number of practice hours required of Full registrants for the same period. Registrants cannot lawfully practice under the Non-practising registration classification — practice hours must be acquired during a period of Full registration within a three-year cycle
  • Conditional registrants – while registrants are not required to report practice hours while holding Conditional registration status, practice hours accumulated while Conditional may be applied to the minimum 750 practice hours if those practice hours were accumulated as a Conditional registrant within the same three-year cycle the registrant became a Full registrant.

The practice hours requirement does not apply to Temporary registrants.

Acceptable practice hours 

Registrants must only report hours that directly relate to the practice of their profession(s). 

Acceptable practice hour categories are listed here.

Documenting and reporting practice hours 

All RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs holding Full registration status must report practice hours in the Registrant Portal on or before the December 31, 2024 deadline.

Non-practising registrants applying to convert back to Full registration status are required to have their employer(s) confirm their practice hours by providing a Record of Employment or a completed Confirmation of Practice Hours form. Registrants cannot lawfully practice under the Non-practising registration classification – practice hours can be acquired during a period of Full or Conditional registration within a three-year cycle.

Registrants are responsible for accurately reporting their practice hours and are required to keep proof of their practice hours for one-year post completion of the three-year cycle. Proof of hours may take a variety of forms including, but not limited to:

  • record of employment
  • business records
  • billing information; or
  • a log of practice activities

Registrants may be required to participate in a random audit of their practice hours. Audits may be conducted without notice to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of their reported practice hours. Where there is a finding of deficient practice hours, the College may take action, including reporting the finding to the Inquiry Committee. Findings of false reporting are subject to disciplinary action.

Practice hours deficiency

Important: Registrants who are unlikely to meet the QA Program practice hours requirement are strongly encouraged to contact the College well in advance of the December 31, 2024 reporting deadline.

Registrants with deficient practice hours at the end of a reporting cycle must submit a completed Practice Hours Deficiency Plan form no later than February 15, 2025. Any deficiency plans received after this date will be subject to a deficiency plan fee of $200.

Registrants who are unable to meet the practice hours requirement must provide information about why there is a deficiency and how it will be corrected in a deficiency plan. Each plan will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. See the Attaining & Maintaining Practice Competence standard of practice for more information about deficiency plans.

Continuing Competency Credits

All RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs with full, conditional, and non-practising registration must meet their Continuing Competency Credit (CCC) requirements to be able to renew their registration. Registrants receive CCCs by completing and reporting approved activities.

For information on approved CCC activities and categories, see below describing CCC categories and allowable credits per year or three-year cycle.

Categories include, but are not limited to: attending conferences, conventions, presentations, workshops, lectures, seminars and webinars; completing online courses; and providing supervision to registrants, students, and Communication Health Assistants (CHAs).

RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs who were registered as of January 1, 2022 must report 45 CCCs by December 31, 2024. For those registered at any time during the current cycle, your registration approval package will indicate the prorated number of CCCs that you must report by the December 31, 2024 deadline.

If you have more than one registration, you are required to complete an additional 15 credits for each additional registration you hold. These 15 credits must be directly related to the profession of the additional registration(s). For a registrant holding 2 registrations and 2 reserved titles, the total credits required is 60 over 3 years. In an instance where a registrant holds 3 registrations and has 3 reserved titles, then the total credits required is 75 over 3 years. You must report enough CCCs to reduce your balance in the registrant portal to zero. You may report more than that; however, that is not required. 

Renewal of Certified Practice Certificates is contingent on reporting a minimum of four CCCs for each certificate. Registrants must ensure that they attribute the credits to the correct Certified Practice Certificate.

For more information about registrants’ continuing competency responsibilities, see the CSHBC Standard of Practice on Attaining & Maintaining Practice Competence.

Planning how to meet CCC requirements

For descriptions of CCC categories and allowable credits, refer to the table below:

Continuing Competency Credit Table

Reporting CCCs

All RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs need to report completed activities/credits in the CSHBC Registrant Portal by December 31, 2024. To report activities/credits, log in to the Portal and follow the prompts for reporting activities/credits. Registrants can also access their record of CCCs earned to date for the current cycle through the Portal.

CCC deficiency

Registrants with deficient CCCs as at the end of a reporting cycle must submit a completed CCC Deficiency Plan form no later than February 15, 2025. Any deficiency plans received after this date will be subject to a deficiency plan fee of $200. See the Attaining & Maintaining Practice Competence standard of practice for more information about deficiency plans.

Online Learning Courses

CHCPBC online learning courses cover essential knowledge about regulatory requirements to support registrants and Communication Health Assistants (CHAs). Completion of free College-authored courses earns credits toward registrants’ Continuing Competency Credits (CCCs) requirements. Completion of UBC IPC on the Run courses and a San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training course also earns CCCs.

Professional Practice Advisors

The College’s Professional Practice Advisors (PPAs) provide professional practice information to registrants to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, and to provide guidance on how practice standards and related documents can be implemented in practice. For more information on PPAs click here.

Practice Resource - Competency Profiles

The College has agreed in principle to accept the following profile as core standards of practice for RAUD:

The profiles harmonize the registration processes of audiologists and speech-language pathologists across the regulated jurisdictions in Canada, enabling standardized outcomes, enhanced public safety, and improved labour mobility.

The competency profile includes a set of essential competencies and their related sub-competencies. Together, the components of the competency profiles detail the professional competencies required of each clinician upon entry-to-practice in Canada, with the goal of safe and effective practice.

The College has also finalized development of a Hearing Instrument Dispensing Competency Profile for British Columbia (see below).

Registered Hearing Instrument Practitioners

The College has finalized development of a Hearing Instrument Dispensing Competency Profile for British Columbia. The CSHBC Board has approved the profile as a core standard of practice.

The competency profile includes a set of essential competencies and their related sub-competencies. Together, the components of the competency profile detail the professional competencies required of each clinician upon entry-to-practice in BC, with the goal of safe and effective practice.

Registered Hearing Instrument Practitioners (RHIPs) are experts in the identification, assessment, treatment, and (re)habilitation of hearing disorders especially as they pertain to hearing instruments. RHIPs help preserve and (re)habilitate auditory function in adult individuals by recommending, selecting, preparing, altering, adapting, verifying, selling, and offering to sell hearing instruments.

For dispensing services to children, RHIPs must either be dually registered as a Registered Audiologist (RAUD), RHIP or hold the applicable Certified Practice certificate (i.e., Certificate D for RHIPs to see children aged 12-16 years). 

After the minimum completion of a diploma program in Hearing Instrument Dispensing, HIPs entering practice in British Columbia, have the knowledge, skills, and judgment to provide services related, but not limited, to:

 

  • Auditory Function
  • Tinnitus [1]
  • Cerumen Management [2]
  • Prescribing and Dispensing of Hearing Instruments
  • Assistive Listening and Alerting Devices
  • Hearing Loss Prevention and Conservation

[1] Additional education and training may be required, according to provincial standards to treat tinnitus.

[2] A valid Certified Practice certificate to perform cerumen management (Certificate C) is required in BC.

Practice Resource - Clinical Policies, Practice Guidelines, & Protocols

Clinical Policies

The following clinical policies are important resources for registrants to consult on a range of topics relevant to the practice of audiology, hearing instrument dispensing, and speech-language pathology:

Clinical Practice Guidelines and Protocols

Clinical practice guidelines and protocols provide recommendations to RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs on delivering safe, high quality, and appropriate care to the public. The guidelines and protocols are developed under the direction of the College’s Quality Assurance (QA) Committee.

While the guidelines and protocols are mainly for RAUDs, RHIPs, and RSLPs, others such as health educators, health authorities, allied health organizations, and other regulated health professionals may also find them to be useful resources.

Infection Prevention & Control In The Practice Environment

The College has transitioned from providing registrants with guidance from provincial agencies for practising during the COVID-19 pandemic, to providing a set of fundamental safety practices that address overall infection prevention and control of communicable diseases in the practice environment.

Registrants are expected to take steps to prevent the transmission and infection of communicable diseases, including COVID-19, in the practice environment, including adhering to the following guiding principles and safety practices.

Guiding principles of infection prevention & control

Recommended guiding principles of infection prevention and control include:

  • Clients must not enter the clinic if they are sick and/or show signs of communicable disease.
  • Registrants must not enter the clinic and provide in-person care if they are sick and/or show signs of communicable disease.
  • Staff must not enter the clinic if they are sick and/or show signs of communicable disease.
  • Registrants and staff must follow proper hand hygiene.
  • A clean work environment must be maintained in the practice environment.
  • Adequate ventilation must be maintained in the practice environment.

Profession-specific resources