All aboard for CPDJadbinder Seehra
It is a statutory requirement for all registrants with the
General Dental Council to undertake Continued Professio-
nal Development (CPD) in order to maintain their
registration and hence, their ability to practice dentistry
within the United Kingdom. Historically, CPD was seen as
a key component of the GDC Lifelong Learning Scheme
and is currently undergoing a wide-ranging consultation
and review (GDC, 2012). Suggested changes include the
introduction of a new minimum CPD requirement, annual
CPD declarations to maintain registration and that all
CPD should be verifiable. CPD is viewed as essential for
dentists and dental care professionals to practice in
accordance with the current standards and expected
principles of the GDC (GDC, 2013).
How do I know what CPD I need to undertake? Given
the vast amount of options it can be difficult to decide
what is appropriate. CPD can be delivered in the form of
courses and lectures, training days, peer review, clinical
audit, e-learning and of course, reading journal articles.
Some guidance is provided by the GDC but ultimately, it
is left to the individual registrant to decide. As it stands,
within a five-year cycle dentists and dental care profes-
sionals are expected to undertake 250 (minimum 75 hours
verifiable) and 150 (minimum 50 hours verifiable) hours
of CPD, respectively. The GDC also highly recommends
CPD be undertaken in three key topics per cycle: medical
emergencies (10 hours), disinfection and decontamination
(5 hours) and radiography and radiation protection
(5 hours). In addition, CPD (general or verifiable) should
cover legal and ethical issues, complaints handling and
oral cancer detection. But how do I complete the other
requirements? It may be useful to bear in mind the
definition of CPD as ‘lectures, seminars, courses, indivi-
dual study and other activities, that can be reasonably
expected to advance your professional development as
a dentist or dental care professional and is relevant to
your practice or intended practice’ (GDC, 2013). Recent
revision of the dental course curriculum requires courses
to meet the required learning outcomes and standards as
stipulated by the GDC. This outcomes-based requirement
also extends to CPD and hence, clinicians should consider
this when planning courses they wish to participate in.
Are there any tools that can be used to help me identify
my CPD needs? As part of GDC’s new proposals for
CPD, the use of a Personal Development Plan (PDP) and
reflection has been advocated. PDP’s have been reported
to be both effective in leading to changes in patient care
and personal development of the learner (Evans et al.,
2002). Both clinical audit and peer review have also been
suggested as useful processes that can be used in the
identification of a more coherent and structured CPD
(Bullock et al., 2000). Reflection of clinical performance,
skills and knowledge is becoming a useful tool in CPD.
Although it maybe sometimes difficult to find time to
reflect, reflection can be incorporated into both clinical
audit and peer review. Importantly, it should be
remembered that every positive and negative outcome is
an opportunity to reflect, learn and improve. Maintaining
CPD requirements in a modern healthcare environment
remains a challenging proposition influenced by many
factors. Clinicians working in both primary and second-
ary care face the demands of delivering high quality care
to increasing numbers of patients with complex issues,
whilst maintaining their own professional development.
Sometimes there are not enough hours in a day!
The British Orthodontic Society is firmly committed to
promoting the study and practice of orthodontics and
both maintaining and improving professional standards.
In keeping with these aims, members can fulfill CPD
requirements by attending courses arranged by the
society, the annual conference and reading published
audits and scientific articles published in both the Clinical
Effectiveness Bulletin and Journal of Orthodontics, respec-
tively. Along with attending postgraduate courses and
discussion with colleagues, reading journals is one of the
most frequent forms of CPD undertaken by dentists
(Bullock et al., 2003; Buck and Newton, 2002). Journal-
based CPD has been reported to be an effective way of
undertaking verifiable CPD (Tredwin et al., 2005). We are
currently beginning the process of improving CPD
provided by the Journal of Orthodontics. From March
2015 onwards an expanded Multiple Choice Question
(MCQ) and clinical articles test will be introduced based
on the scientific, review, clinical articles published within
each edition of the journal and supplement editions. In
addition, MCQ tests based on the abstracts of articles that
reflect the GDC learning outcomes/standards will be
included. Up to 4 hours of verifiable CPD will be awarded
EDITORIAL Journal of Orthodontics, Vol. 41, 2014, 271–272
# 2014 British Orthodontic Society DOI 10.1179/1465312514Z.000000000191
per edition. In addition, this CPD will continue to be
available to members via the BOS Virtual Learning
Environment (VLE). Greater access to media-based CPD
through the internet has been shown to be desirable(Bullock et al.,2003).
Whether in primary or secondary care, CPD is key
component of clinical governance. Now more than ever,
the importance of undertaking effective, appropriate
and high quality CPD is clear and cannot be under-
estimated.
ReferencesGeneral Dental Council. Maintaining Quality and Impact of CPD in Dentistry:
A discussion Document. London: General Dental Council, 2012.
General Dental Council. Standards for the dental team. London: General Dental
Council, 2013.
General Dental Council. Continuing Professional Development for dental
professionals. London: General Dental Council, 2013.
Bailey SE, Bullock AD, Cowpe JG, Thomas HS, Yuen-Lee F, Wood M,
Newcombe RG. An evaluation of CPD activity of dentists in Wales. Eur J
Dent Educ. 2013;17:e49–55.
Buck D, Newton T. Continuing professional development amongst dental
practitioners in the United Kingdom: how far are we from lifelong
learning targets? Eur J Dent Educ. 2002 ;6 :36–39.
Bullock AD, Butterfield S, Belfield CR, Morris ZS, Ribbins PM, Frame JW. A
role for clinical audit and peer review in the identification of continuing
professional development needs for general dental practitioners: a
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Bullock A, Firmstone V, Fielding A, Frame J, Thomas D, Belfield C.
Participation of UK dentists in continuing professional development. Br
Dent J. 2003;194:47–51.
Evans A, Ali S, Singleton C, Nolan P, Bahrami J. The effectiveness of personal
education plans in continuing professional development: an evaluation.
Med Teach. 2002;24:79–84.
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