What is Continuing Professional Development?

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an ongoing process by which health professionals keep updated to meet the needs of patients, the health service and their own professional development. In contrast to continuing medical education (CME), which involves updating only clinical knowledge, CPD also embraces developing and improving a broad range of skills necessary for medical practice (e.g. management, communication, teaching and learning skills; knowledge of information technology; and audit). Even in retirement many people may make a contribution to their profession and still have personal learning goals.

A commitment to CPD is essential to an individual’’s effective performance in all aspects of working life

The principles of CPD are that:

• individuals should always be actively seeking to improve performance
• development is primarily a personal matter and should be owned and managed by the individual
• any development plan must start with the individual’’s current learning needs, take into account previous development, fit into their overall life and career plan and, where relevant, meet current practice needs
• development goals should be clearly defined and accompanied by specific measures of what will constitute a successful outcome
• individuals should regularly assess their achievement against these measures, either as self-assessment or through peer review or with the help of a mentor
• investment in training, development and learning should be regarded as a fundamental principle of enhancing professional success

What isn'’t CPD?

• CPD isn'’t something extra you have to do just to be a member of a professional body
• CPD isn'’t just formal training courses
• CPD isn'’t something you always have to take time away from your work for
• CPD isn'’t an activity that results in learning with no bearing on your work or career development 

How can you benefit from CPD?

CPD ensures that your professional credibility is maintained in order to adapt to new ideas, concepts and practical tools which are constantly being developed.

CPD will provide you with:

• the ability to update your knowledge and skills on existing and new areas of practice
• the opportunity to raise your profile and career prospects through certification and networking
• the tools to identify the skills and knowledge that you may need in the future to further your career
• the process to plan how you are going to acquire them
• the guidance on how to capture and reflect on your learning experience
• the ability to assess the extent to which you have achieved your learning objectives

In summary, CPD will provide you with the framework to manage your own development and aspire to improve performance above and beyond the requirements of your present position.

What counts as CPD?

CPD is essentially about individuals, their development needs, what they can do to meet them and a reflective evaluation of the outcomes achieved.

Individuals are responsible for managing their own CPD.

CPD activities are many and varied and learning can take place in many different situations. CPD is not just about courses and qualifications. It includes a wide variety of activities that lead to learning and development, both personal and professional.

An important point about CPD is that it need not be always ‘’upwards'’ but should also help you to broaden your range of skills, knowledge and/or competence at your current, or even a lower, level. This is especially important if you are at a stage of your career when further advancement is, for whatever reason, not an option or not available to you.

Opportunities for informal - or unstructured - learning could be:

• Work experience projects
• Coaching and mentoring
• Job rotation and work shadowing
• Team Development
• Planned reading
• Networking
• Using multi-media resources

Methods of formal - structured - learning could be:

• Attendance at conferences, seminars and other professional meetings
• Distance learning with feedback, or some form of assessment
• Peer Review
• Studying for a qualification
• Undertaking research
• Attendance at short courses
• Teaching and making presentations
• Small Group Learning

The choice of activity is up to you so long as it is part of your overall CPD plan and you reflect on and record what you have gained from it.

Who can help me with my CPD?

Your CPD is without question something you should take personal responsibility for. You are the only one who can decide exactly what you need or want to learn, how you would prefer to learn about it, make sure you do learn it and then put your learning to good use.

NIMDTA GP tutors and your appraiser are available to discuss your learning needs and offer you advice and support

GP TUTORS - Please click on this link to meet the tutors

GP APPRAISERS - Please click on this link to view the appraisers