Continuing Professional Development Jill ILIFFE Executive Secretary Commonwealth Nurses Federation
What is CPD? There are MANY different names for the same thing CPD: Continuing professional development CNE: Continuing nursing education CPE: Continuing professional education CME: Continuing medical education CE: Continuing education LLL: Life long learning ISE: In-service education SD: Staff development
Who is to be covered by your CPD program? Whoever the regulatory council has Responsibility for
How is CPD to be linked to licensure? Life long registration and no requirement for renewal of your license to practice. Initial registration and renewal of your license to practice annually (or each 3 years or 5 years) with or without a requirement for mandatory or voluntary CPD. Some countries also have practice requirements so many hours of practice over a set period (2-5 years) or require recency of practice, that is, you have practiced in your profession within the last 2-5 years.
What should go in your Act Make it as broad as possible. The regulatory council will issue a license to practice and may impose conditions on renewal of license from time to time.
Vision or Mission Statement You might want to insert a vision or mission statement at the beginning of your framework
Introduction Establish the mandate of the regulatory council to require involvement in CPD activities
Who is responsible? employers (public or private) regulatory bodies professional associations governments individuals
Definitions There are many different definitions in the literature. Find or develop one that suits you
Purpose or Rationale Explain why? Many individuals will already be involved in CPD. Why now? Make your arguments as to why the regulatory council is imposing a CPD requirement.
What are the principles of CPD? relevant, current, available, accessible, and affordable adult learning principles evidence-based
Voluntary or mandatory? Difficult to apply sanctions for non-compliance without legislative support. Governments, regulatory bodies, employers, and professional associations all have a responsibility to ensure services provided are safe and protect the public. They have to demonstrate accountability. Individuals have an ethical responsibility to their patients and clients, their professions, and themselves to practice competently and safely. CPD should be an integral part of their professional life whether voluntary or mandatory.
How much is enough? There should be a minimum requirement, but there is no maximum. Requirements for health professionals vary globally from the equivalent of 20 hours annually to 50 hours annually sometimes spread over 2-3 years. CPD requirements must be: reasonable, achievable, fair, accessible to all (includes cost considerations), transparent, flexible, and inclusive (avoid monopoly).
CPD points or CPD hours? Awarding CPD points for learning activities requires the development of a formal process which involves personnel, time and cost. Specifying a minimum number of hours of CPD activity is a satisfactory first step. In some programs, one hour of active learning = one CPD point.
What constitutes CPD? What is the scope? formal educational programs short courses (face to face or online) experiential (presenting at or attending conferences, seminars or workshops; supervised practice for skills development) self-directed (reading professional journals and books; keeping a self reflection journal)
Documentation What evidence should each nurse and midwife provide? In what form? Log book, diary, professional portfolio
Accredit or not? It would be difficult to accredit all CPD activity as CPD activities should embrace both formal and informal (self-directed and experiential) learning. Accepting only accredited CPD activities diminishes the value of self-directed (reading journals, presenting at conferences, publishing articles) and experiential learning that takes place in the workplace (supervised clinical learning). Both accredited and non-accredited CPD activities should be encouraged and valued.
Accredit or not? Accreditation of CPD content requires the development of a formal process, establishing accreditation criteria and ongoing evaluation of applications which involves personnel, time and cost. Likewise, the accreditation of providers of CDP learning activities requires the development of a similar formal process. Is it the responsibility of a regulatory body to accredit CPD activities or encourage the development of an external body to undertake this function?
Monitoring compliance? Each nurse or midwife monitored or a meaningful random sample? What evidence should each nurse and midwife provide? Establishing penalties for non compliance and an appeals process and criteria plus criteria for exemptions and deferment.
How are you going to evaluate your program? Collecting statistics (what CPD was accessed) Evaluating the process (did it work) Measuring outcomes (how many individuals were compliant)
Establishing CPD is a staged process
A process for establishing CPD 1. Prepare your arguments and your brief. 2. Develop and implement a communication strategy. 3. Develop your CPD policy. 4. Develop your CPD framework. 5. Make any legislative change. 6. Take small steps moving forward toward your goal. 7. Remember: the process should be reasonable, achievable, fair, accessible, transparent, flexible, and inclusive. 8. CPD should be relevant, current, available, accessible and affordable.