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Planning, recording and reflecting on CPD

The setting of objectives is a useful feature of recording CPD on this website which is designed to support the planning and capturing of your CPD by helping to focus your efforts on the areas personal to your own professional goals.

It may be of course that CPD activities take place which are not featured in any planned objectives and may trigger other areas that can be added to the learning plan - the process at its best is iterative and dynamic.

How to add an objective

Objectives are set from the Plan page by selecting plan in the navigation menu followed by the ‘Add Objective’ button.

When you add an objective you may want to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do I need to update any of my current knowledge or skills?
  • What are my career goals and what CPD would help me to meet them
  • What knowledge, skills and experience would I like to develop?
  • Do I need any formal training?
Example

Here is an example of an objective:

Title: Local anaesthesia for dentistry
Description: To learn how and when to use this technique

Tagging

Once you have created an objective you can tag an activity with it.

Next to each objective set is an icon displaying a clock and the number of hours recorded against it. Tapping this will show the tagged activities.

Marking Complete

You can have up to 10 active objectives at a time. Once you complete an objective you should mark it as complete so you can add more. 10 active objectives is the limit, but you do not need to have that many.

Log the activities that count towards your CPD, to keep track of your progress.

Consider any objectives you have set yourself and the wide range of learning that takes place even within the workplace, such as discussions with colleagues, clinical audits case research or shadowing/seeing practice.

You don’t need to focus only on clinical CPD; any learning or development that is relevant to your role as a professional person can be counted as CPD.

How to record an activity

  • Select Record from the navigation menu to quickly log a CPD activity.
  • The ‘Topic’ field should be used to document the area your activity covered. Possible topics include a subject of study, the name of an article, case review, clinical audit, webinar or course.
  • Use the ‘Duration’ field to record the length of time over which your learning took place. You may round up e.g. if your learning took 1 hour and 10 minutes you can record it as 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  • Use the ‘Date’ field to set a future date of an upcoming activity, such as attending a conference or webinar, or to record activities that have already taken place, for example a clinical audit or some in-house training.
  • The ‘Activity Type’ field has a range of common CPD activities as well as an ‘Other’ option to input your own.
  • Add an ‘Objective’ to tag against your activity.
  • Use the ‘Notes’ field to add further details about your CPD to help with reflection later.
  • You may want to add an attachment, such as a photo or notes from a lecture, which provide you with some details which could aid you with your reflection.

Visit our website for tips on what counts as CPD

Reflection is an important process for you to evaluate the impact of your CPD activity on meeting your professional needs for maintenance and development. Taking some time to review and reflect on your activities allows you to assess what benefits you have gained and how you might implement your learning in future.

It’s best to record reflections on a regular basis, as it can be easy to forget details over time. You can record reflections starting on the day the activity is scheduled.

A reflective note does not need to capture the full details of an experience. It should capture learning outcomes, the impact on you and / or your future practice and any future plans for further learning or sharing CPD outcomes with colleagues.

Throughout your cycle, you should also consider how your reflections on CPD impact on your development plan and whether this needs adjusting.

How to add a reflection

  • To reflect on a CPD activity select Reflect from the navigation menu followed by an activity in the ‘To do’ list.
  • Once you have completed a reflective note and saved it, the activity will show in the ‘Complete’ list.
Example

Here’s an example of an entry reflecting on local anaesthesia use in dentistry:

How did this CPD relate to your learning plan and objectives?

I did some self-directed learning and decided to attend a wet lab practical course to further my learning.

What are the key things you have learned?

I have a better understanding of when to consider using local anaesthesia, and I feel more confident in the practical application of this.

What impact has the CPD had undertaken had on you as a professional or in your role?

I have created some protocols for my practice and have used the technique in an appropriate case with support from a senior colleague.

Visit our website for more tips on how to reflect on your CPD