Column From the chairside with Alison McKenzie
And the results are? A
s one of the dental nurses affected by the new legislation of mandatory Contin- uing Professional
Development (CPD) following the registration of dental care profes- sionals (DCPs) in 2008, I was relieved at the time to discover on the General Dental Council (GDC) website an explanation of why it was being introduced, guidance on recording and keeping records, sample templates, advice sheets and examples of information required on a verifiable certificate. The availability of this made the new process of updating knowledge and skills less daunting than it could have been. The GDC obviously succeeded
in their information campaign, according to results published from a recent review based on the views of registrants, providers and GDC stakeholders, 85 per cent of registrants understand the GDC’s current CPD requirements. We are near to the end of the
first five year cycle for DCPs, with the revalidation of dentists on the horizon, a path DCPs are set to follow, results from this survey will serve to highlight any relevant changes that should be made and feature as an important part in any review of revalidation policy. The survey results are available
now on the GDC website in more depth but some interesting points highlighted included 39 per cent of dental nurses found motivation and 19 per cent found time as a barrier to CPD. Seventy per cent of registrants personally paid for their CPD and 65 per cent completed it in their own time. Online learning came on top as the most popular
choice of learning with 52 per cent, day courses and workplace activities followed closely behind. According to the survey the posi-
tive opinion on CPD showed 60 per cent of registrants seeing it as an opportunity to learn a new skill or technique and 51 per cent as a personal reflection on their skills and abilities. Also encouraging facts of 64 per cent of registrants stated that if it was not mandatory they would still complete CPD, 50 per cent of registrants still believe that the CPD requirement was to main- tain registration while 45 per cent of dental nurses believed it was to help comply with standards for dental professionals. The outcome of the survey looked
at the length of the five year cycle only 12 per cent wanted a change, 53 per cent thought it too long, 44 per cent too short. It was felt that
“The out- come of the survey looked at the length of the five year cycle only 12 per cent wanted a change”
some form of monitoring should be in place and the core subjects should stay but a bit more flexibility was required including introducing specialist CPD. Other thoughts were to increase verifiable and relax non- verifiable CPD. Accreditation was also preferred by providers. Five years is an adequate time to
complete 150 hours of CPD and I personally would not like to see a reduction in this although I do agree with stakeholders and providers that CPD should form a part in annual reviews or personal development plans (perhaps incorporating moni- toring by the employer), at the moment it is the dental nurses’ responsibility to comply with requirements but employers will require assurance at some point that their dental nurse has complied with requirements for eligibility for regis- tration in 2013.
Scottish Dental magazine 21
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