By the time you read this, the MyCPD section on the GOC website should be accessible and you can start your continuing professional development (CPD) plan for the next three-year cycle. This is, then, probably the time to remind all registrants of two newly mandatory features we will all must become familiar with.
Personal Development Plan
Many readers working as employed ECPs will almost certainly be familiar with the concept of a personal development plan (PDP). Typically, this is something agreed annually with a line manager and forms the basis of a discussion focusing on your job role and development.
As part of the new GOC CPD programme, it is now a requirement to set up a PDP on the MyCPD website before being able to log any of your CPD points. The reason for this is that, unlike the old CET scheme, CPD is a way of thinking about your own particular professional role, consider what you want to achieve over the coming three years, and have something to refer back to as a gauge of how well you have progressed with your plan. The GOC offer a template (available on the MyCPD platform) to assist in your planning. Points to consider might include:
- Areas of development. This might include developing areas of particular interest or where you would like your career to progress. For example, it might be something as simple as increasing your confidence in paediatric eye care or something more intensive as aiming for a higher qualification. The key thing is to take your time in deciding on your professional development and to make sure that what you aim for is achievable within a set time.
- Specific goals or objectives. It is much easier to realise a specific goal, such as be able to confidently manage a binocular vision problem or undertake a paediatric dispense, than to simply have a goal at ‘being better at…’.
- CPD. Think about the specific CPD steps that may help you to realise your goal. For example, you may wish to begin with some background distance learning and research, then some practical training and then, perhaps, some life experience under supervision.
- Target and completion dates. Having set deadlines for smaller steps is much, much easier and less stressful than stating one goal and date to achieve a major ambition. You will be glad you have set smaller steps instead of one big step to achieve a set goal. It will also make it much easier at the end of the CPD cycle to be able to establish during your reflective activity whether you have followed your PDP and, if not, where any gaps might be filled in a future PDP.
The GOC suggest what to do if your plans change once your initial PDP is set and you have, instead, undertaken different CPD to that set out in your personal development plan. ‘This is absolutely fine, as long as you meet the minimum CPD requirements (see Optician 17.12.22) and set out clearly in your reflective exercise why you have undertaken learning in different areas than you originally planned.’
Reflective Exercise
A new feature to the CPD programme, which was not required under the CET scheme, is the need to undertake a reflective exercise at the end of each cycle. This is a requirement for all registrants and involves a discussion with a ‘peer’ to see how well you have followed your PDP.
The peer with whom you undertake the discussion needs to be someone relevant to your professional activity and not just a friend, relative or boss. The obvious choice would be a fellow professional of similar job category, such as IP optometrist, DO, optometrist and so on, but might be another healthcare professional regulated by a statutory body, such as an ophthalmologist, orthoptist, nurse, physiotherapist or pharmacist. This decision is dependent upon your specific role, so only you will really know how appropriate your choice of peer is to your PDP.
Your discussion, once completed, will need to be logged on the MyCPD site and should include some comments regarding how well you and your peer feel you have followed your plan and also might include such things as feedback (from patients and colleagues) and certificates of achievement. Again, look out for a GOC template for reflection activity on the MyCPD platform once it is up and running.
Good luck!