CPD Guidance

The concept of continuing professional development (CPD) has become an increasing aspect of professional practice, as has the need for those professionals to be accountable for their practice. Change is an ever present factor in the modern world and in the area of health care particularly, research has a continuous influence on the delivery of health care. Consider the changes that have happened in recent years to the role of the paramedic; clinical factors include the introduction of LMAs; delivery of Thrombolytics pre hospital; intra osseous infusion; clinical performance indicators. There are also environmental factors that drive change in the pre hospital care environment; the threat of terrorism; the change of government in 1997 and the potential change this year. All these factors make it necessary for practitioners to prepare for and to stay abreast of change.

The College of Paramedics, as the professional body for registered UK paramedics supports the Health Professions Council in its requirement for paramedics to engage in CPD to ensure that practicing paramedics are able to inculcate change and embrace the continuous development of a world leading modern health care service.

Because the arena of paramedic practice is so varied, from NHS to private sector emergency work to teaching in universities and research, the exact nature of CPD activities is difficult to stipulate. It is clear to see that CPD for an emergency service provider will be quite different to a researcher however both can be HPC registered paramedics. It is this variety of role that will bring a variety of CPD activities to the profession and lead to a diverse development of what is a relatively new vocation. It is up to the individual to decide what constitutes CPD activity but the activity must satisfy a number of precepts. These are made clear by the HPC and their detailed guide to CPD can be found at www.hpc-uk.org The College of Paramedics also make recommendations for CPD activity and these support the HPC Standards for CPD.

Your Portfolio

The College of Paramedics recommends that CPD activity be recorded in a portfolio. Whether this is electronic or paper based, or a mixture of both is up to the paramedic. The BPA used to provide an online version of an electronic portfolio builder and can be found at https://cpd.britishparamedic.org. This is only available to members who signed up for it on the old site, www.britishparamedic.org, to log in you will need your surname and old BPA number. Please be aware the College of Paramedics no longer manages this site and can not guarantee its continued availability.

Other electronic portfolios are available and may even be provided by an ambulance trust or educational institution. Beware that if your evidence is stored online that the server may not always be available and may not guarantee to back up your data so ensure that wherever possible you keep an up to date backup of your portfolio.

However you decide to manage your portfolio there are a number of things that it should contain

1.       Personal details.

2.       A Contents page.

3.       Curriculum Vitae.

4.       Professional profile – information of how to write a profile can be found at http://www.hpc-uk.org/registrants/cpd/sampleprofiles and some examples are given. A profile could be requested from you at the time of re registration so it makes sense to keep this up to date rather than waiting to write one immediately prior to the re registration date in 2011.

5.       Job Description. This should be available from your employer and you should check that you are able to carry out each role and responsibility to ensure that you are performing as your employer intends. Any shortfall here could be an ideal focus for your CPD.

6.        Personal Development Plan. A PDP can be an agreement between you and your employer to ensure that you are performing and developing as your organisation desires. A PDP can be drawn up using the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework which will compliment your job description or can be used in place of a job description if you don’t.

7.       Reflections and articles relevant to reflections. These are essential items in a CPD portfolio. Reflecting on experiences is an important learning tool and demonstrates that you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and can be self critical if you need to be. There are many reflective models available and you should be familiar with several so you can choose a suitable one for a given circumstance. Gibbs’s Reflective model is frequently cited in healthcare as is David Boud who encourages reflectors to engage with the emotional elements of experiences.

8.       Consent forms. It should be remembered by all Paramedics that confidentiality and consent are aspects of practice that must be considered not only in the clinical setting but also when information regarding patient conditions is being used for research or CPD purposes. All entries into your portfolio must be unidentifiable by patient name, address, incident location and date and time. Even with this level of anonymity you should also gain the patient’s consent to use their case in your portfolio. A record of you gaining this consent should be provided alongside your entry.

9.       Certificates. These are useful entries as they are a record of your attendance at an event of some kind. To increase the validity of certificates you should include a summary of the course you were on, perhaps some learning outcomes, and a reflective account of the course and how it will affect your practice.

10.   Record of clinical experience. Some ambulance trusts have a system of scanning patient report forms and collating information regarding skills performed on an individual basis. This information provides a record of your clinical practice and can help to identify areas where you could direct your CPD activity. A simple diary of clinical skills analysis, either paper or electronic e.g. MS Excel, is sufficient to record this information and should be included in your portfolio.

11.   Competencies/practice outcomes. All CPD activity should be related to your practice and you may have a list of specific competencies relating to your role. Unlike the NHS KSF, which is more generic regarding competence, a list of clinical competencies provides a tangible framework upon which you can self or peer assess your competence. Your activity should be based on these outcomes rather than just recording the time you have spent on an activity.

12.   Essential and supplemental evidence. You may also have other forms of evidence to include in your portfolio, some as mentioned above is essential evidence but you may have other forms which demonstrates your CPD. Examples might be conversations with clinicians where there has been a learning outcome; journal articles etc. The HPC have a list of suggestions which may help you decide if evidence is relevant.

13.   Evidence matrix/ cross-reference grid. Finally you should have a sheet that references your portfolio contents to your competence framework or KSF or the HPC standards. This will help you keep some order to your portfolio and find things when you need to update them.

Your portfolio should be a succinct record of your CPD and also embraces the concept of Lifelong learning. Don’t wait until the next Paramedic registration renewal date in June 2011 to begin compiling your portfolio. You should spend a small amount of time on a regular basis engaging with some learning activity and recording it. It has been scientifically proven that regular learning stimulates brain activity and leads to a healthier later life. Consider having a portfolio of your career as a Paramedic when you retire and a healthy mind to go with it.

Author: Tony Spence