Rachel’s round up! DCPs core cpd requirements

It’s that time of year again when your ARF is due and your annual submission of CPD is has to be made, but so many DCPS are still struggling to get the right balance of Hours and subjects. It is true that when we submit either online or paper it simply asks for verifiable and general hours for that year. It also states that you can only submit full hours and not 20minutes, 30minutes or 45minutes which is very annoying – this being the case why do
CPD providers award this??

It would be a far better system all round if for verifiable CPD you were to declare how many hours you have done in core subjects for that year as well as subjects complimentary to your role, and this be shown as a rolling tally for each year you go to submit.

Currently CPD requirements for Dental care professionals is 150 hours over a five year cycle with at least 50hours being verifiable. We also have Core subjects and a recommended number if hours to complete in these subjects.

Medical emergencies 10 hours
Infection control 5 hours
Radiography 5 hours – updates in radiographer differ in two ways, radiography for the dental team or radiography for those who are qualified to take X-rays. It is important to ensure you do the correct update here.

Total 20 hours verifiable CPD

Then there are the advisory subjects

Oral cancer early detection
Ethical & Legal
Complaints handling

Completing just 1-2 hours in these advisory subjects per year will almost see you complete the required verifiable total needed.

It’s also advisable to get some CPD in subjects that compliment your job role, for example as an oral health educator you may want to look for workshops that look at diet & nutrition or dealing with long term health implications.

It is also important to consider maintaining your knowledge in safeguarding during your five year cycle.

There are many ways in which to gain verifiable CPD.

There are organisations that offer CPD packages which can be completed online from the comfort of your own home. Local deanery’s have a good variety and always core of knowledge seminars but they can be difficult to get a place on though as everyone wants free CPD. I myself have completed online CPD using Dental nurse network, dental care.com, BDJ team and dental nursing journal.
But CPD can easily be done in house by utilising the skills and knowledge of the team. A knowledgable and passion team member may want to develop themselves into the trainer roll which can be easily done undertaking the City & Guilds 7303 (PTLLS) qualification, this allows your to train anything you yourself are qualified or trained in.

For CPD to be verifiable it needs to have
Clear & concise aims and objectives
Clear anticipated outcomes
Be quality controlled – be able to give feedback
You should receive documented proof in the form of a certificate along with hours awarded for the activity.

Don’t forget undertaking further development also counts a verifiable and quite a good chunk of hours can be earned this way.

General or non-verifiable CPD can be gained by reading journals or online articles, staff meetings, appraisals any activity really that relates to your role.

Continued professional development went under consultation earlier this year the results are still to be revealed – hopefully we will get a much cleared view of what is expected from us for the future.

Rachel
Training Manager and Clinical Treatment Co-ordinator at JM Dental Care
Course Tutor and impression taking trainer for Horton Consulting

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