Evidencing Continual Professional Development: Maximising Impact and Informing Career Planning

Abstract

Continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for radiographers to maintain and update their specialised knowledge base in light of constant professional changes. CPD is the continuous and systematic maintenance, improvement, and broadening of knowledge and skills and the development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional and technical duties. Professional and regulatory bodies are increasingly relying on proof of CPD through a variety of learning opportunities to provide evidence of clinical competence. Importantly, CPD has been linked not only to competence but also to motivation and job satisfaction. However, for CPD to be embraced fully, the individual needs to see how activity can be planned and recorded in a way that is meaningful to them in the context of their career aspirations. This article will review basic principles of why evidence is needed for CPD, what constitutes evidence (direct and indirect), and how that evidence can be presented. This will be discussed in the context of having a longer-term career vision, and embedded within Donner and Wheeler's five-phase career planning and development model. R ESUM E Le perfectionnement professionnel continu (PPC) est essentiel pour permettre aux radiographes de maintenir et de mettre a jour leur base de connaissances sp ecialis ees au vu de l' evolution continuelle de la profession. Le PPC est « l'entretien, l'am elioration et l' elargissement continu et syst ematique des connaissances et des comp etences et le d eveloppement des qualit es personnelles requises pour l'ex ecution des tâches professionnelles et techniques » Henwood (2000). Les organismes professionnels et r eglementaires s'appuient de plus en plus sur les preuves de PPC par une vari et e d'occasions d'apprentissage dans la d etermination de la comp etence clinique. Il est important de noter que le PPC est li e non seulement aux comp etences, mais aussi a la motivation et a la satisfaction au travail. Cependant, pour que le PPC soit adopt e pleinement, l'individu doit pouvoir constater de quelle façon les activit es peuventêtre planifi ees et consign ees d'une façon significative pour lui dans le contexte de des aspirations de carri ere. Cet article passe en revue les principes de base autour desquels s'articule le besoin de preuves du PPC, ce qui constitue une preuve (directe ou indirecte) et comment ces preuves peuventêtre pr esent ees. Ces el ements sont trait es dans le contexte d'une vision de carri ere a long terme, et inscrite dans le mod ele de planification et d eveloppement de carri ere en cinq phases d evelopp e par Donner & Wheeler (2001).

Continuing professional development (CPD) in radiography: A collaborative European meta-ethnography literature review

“…The tension was between the need to evidence participation, versus the need to evidence learning. Neither system is infallible with literature supporting and highlighting the evident shortcomings of each 31,40,42,43,47,48 . CPD quantification systems have a failing in that they only measure CPD participation not output or even better knowledge translation 43 .…”

“…There is an overall identification of poor gap/needs analysis by employers and Radiographers with regard to CPD activity 34,40,52,53,54 . There is a clear need to move forward with impact analysis in the planning, recording and implementation of CPD; taking account of all parties involved -such as the patient, the individual, the service and the profession.…”

“…There has been suggestion in the literature toward greater partnership and collaborative working between stakeholders to create new ways of planning CPD activity 52,53 In summary, CPD should be 'fit for purpose' whereby a documented needs/gap analysis demonstrates a clear benefit to a range of stakeholders including the patient, the individual, the service and the profession 40 . Clear linking of CPD activity to career planning involving transparent discussion between the Radiographer and the manager should feedforward in career planning.…”

Stimulating and Educating Engineers to Innovate through Individual Continuous Learning

“…An important aspect of the connotation of continuous learning is to maintain the sustainable development of professional competence [11]. There is an important relationship between personal professional development and career aspirations, which can be achieved through professional learning plans and a series of activities [6]. At the same time, career-related continuous learning can help organizational members meet their psychological needs and realize their intrinsic value, thus gaining a competitive advantage in the job market [19].…”

“…Fairlie and Robb found that, in many small enterprises, technical workers form the backbone of their business and the productivity of these knowledge workers can be divided into six categories: systematization and structuralization, learning motivation, attention, output, punctuality, and communication [5]. Eddy et al regarded self-efficacy and skill sets as a subset of the overall set of abilities required by system engineering and found that the self-efficacy of system engineers can be influenced by a regimented education plan [6]. Therefore, in many countries, educators and managers have used the structured curricula to train engineers, expecting them to acquire technical knowledge, professional skills, and work experience [7,8].…”