Any clinician will tell you that continuing professional development (CPD) is a priority.
It’s all about improving your skills and knowledge through training so that your professional qualifications remain relevant.
CPD combines different learning methods:
- webinars
- training workshops
- conferences and events
- e-learning programs
- best practice techniques
- ideas sharing
But sometimes it can be really hard to keep on top of your profile and prioritise CPD into your workflow.
What is a CPD profile?
A CPD profile will help you to meet a variety of CPD requirements.
It’s not only clinical skills that count towards your hours: the business skills you need to grow your practice count too.
It captures what activities you have done and when you did them.
It also shows what you learnt by doing them and how such learning has affected your practice.
A profile should be:
- Your professional development and experience record
- Based on your work practices and responsibilities
- A record that is also reflective and evaluative
- Confidential
- A historical, current, and future learning tool
With these requirements in mind, let’s take a look at how your practice management software can make CPD profile management a piece of cake.
5 ways you can easily manage your CPD profile with WriteUpp
1. Schedule, track and report on CPD with CPD Appointment Types
In WriteUpp, you can create your own appointment types; for example, ‘CPD: Webinar’.
When you have a CPD session booked, simply select yourself as the active client and book yourself in for a CPD appointment in your diary:
To see a full record of your CPD activity, click open the activity section in Business Views.
From here, you can choose the date range that you would like to report on and the type of CPD, say Webinars, that you would like to see a record for:
You can even export this out to Excel to do some further analysis if you need to.
This is a great way to look back over the year and add up your CPD hours using the Duration column!
2. Upload and store evidence of your achievements
Profile material can be gathered from a variety of sources. Among them:
- Information leaflets, case studies, critical literature reviews, adapted notes for patients/clients/students
- Materials that reflect on and evaluate your learning and practices, such as reflective profiles. Documentation resulting from appraisals, clinical supervision, job evaluations, or compliance with competence frameworks can also be used.
- Testimonials, a letter from a carer/colleague/student, a certificate from a course, a business plan or a presentation you gave.
You can upload all of these materials and documents securely into WriteUpp by heading to Create -> Attachment, and storing them against yourself as the active client.
Profiles must be confidential to you: no one can see your profile without your permission.
WriteUpp is completely secure, so you can rest easy knowing that your CPD profile is safe.
3. Link notes to defined CPD sessions
During your CPD session you’ll probably take notes so that you don’t forget what you learned.
Keep all your CPD information together in WriteUpp by going to Create -> Note, and then jotting your thoughts, ideas and outcomes in there.
You could even create yourself a template to prompt you on what information you’d like to remember every time you attend a CPD session.
Once your note is finished, simply link it to the CPD appointment in your diary so that you can access it easily, and know exactly which session your notes refer to.
4. Use our CPD assessment form template for reflective learning
One of the core requirements of a CPD profile is that you keep a record that is also reflective and evaluative.
You’ll need to do more than just jot down what was said on a course here.
Reflection allows you to identify and appreciate positive experiences and better identify ways that you can improve your practice and service delivery.
It can also be useful when you have had more challenging experiences; helping you to process and learn from them.
Reflective notes do not have to be lengthy, but should reflect on how the learning was relevant and how it will impact on your practice.
Each reflective note should include the following four elements:
- Why did I choose this activity for my CPD?
- What did I learn from this activity or event?
- What am I going to do to apply this learning in my work?
- What am I going to do to further develop this learning and/or meet any gaps in my knowledge, skills or understanding?
The easiest way to remember to reflect on each of these elements is to use our CPD Reflective Learning template in WriteUpp.
To use this, head to Settings -> Assessments and add this template to your list of favourites. You can then use this every time you attend a CPD training session.
These will be stored securely against your own record, which you can export if you need to.
5. Watch our webinars to qualify for CPD points
WriteUpp is a member of the CPD Certification Service, and we run informative webinars on a regular basis which you can count towards your CPD hours.
Look out for the following logo on our webinar page for the ones which qualify:
Our webinars are independently assessed and verified, and therefore approved as genuine ways to gather CPD points for your profile.
What’s more, you’ll even receive a certificate of completion after you attend, which you can upload into your CPD profile in WriteUpp.
Get started with our most popular CPD webinar today: Using technology to enhance your private practice
And finally…. make the most of your CPD profile!
Your profile contains evidence that can be used in many different ways. It can help with:
- Meeting the CPD requirements for a professional network
- CPD standards and return to practice requirements of the Health and Care Profession Council
- Applicants for further study
- Obtaining funding to help you finance your studies
- Preparing for interviews and job applications
- Meetings to discuss appraisals
It’s always a good idea to take the time to develop and maintain your profile!
If you’d like to use WriteUpp to manage your CPD profile, along with all your practice management requirements, take out a FREE 30 day trial.
We don’t need your credit card details, and there’s no obligation to subscribe at the end of your trial.
If you have any questions, or just want to chat to us about what an integrated practice management solution could do for you and your practice, just grab us for a live chat.
The button is just there in the bottom right corner of your screen.
