CPD is an important part of career development and progression across a wide range of industries, but why is CPD so important in healthcare? In this article we address the benefits of CPD in healthcare, as well as offering a few suggestions of suitable CPD courses for healthcare professionals.
So, why is CPD important in healthcare? Healthcare CPD is vital for the upkeep of knowledge, understanding and competence, as well as being highly beneficial for career progression and networking. What’s more, CPD is essential for revalidation in many healthcare professions.
Read on to learn more about the benefits of CPD in healthcare and why it’s so important.
What is CPD in Health and Social Care?
Continued professional development (CPD) is an array of activities that a health or social care worker does in order to further their knowledge and advance their career. This ensures that their skills are up-to-date and that they continue to practise safely and effectively.
Healthcare CPD may include:
- Workshops
- Skills based courses
- Peer review activities
- Mentoring a specific skill or role
- Group meetings
- Clinical audits
- Acting as an expert witness
- Practice visits to different environments that are relevant to the Nursing
Why Healthcare CPD is So Important
Healthcare CPD is so important because it ensures that healthcare professionals continue to work on their knowledge and skills once they complete their studies. This is vital for both patient care, and for their own career progression. Ultimately, it ensures that they are able to meet patient needs and service delivery in a constantly changing practice environment.
Further to this, CPD is typically a key factor in revalidation for a number of healthcare professions and an incomplete CPD portfolio could result in a member not being able to renew their membership and therefore their licence to practise.
Different health and social care professions have their own governing bodies that determine how much CPD should be done over a set period of time, usually via a points or hours logged system (e.g. nurses must complete 35 hours of CPD over 3 years).
Typically, the different governing bodies in healthcare may also specify how much time their members should spend on the different types of CPD. For example, the Nursing and Midwifery Council explains that of the 35 hours of CPD that nurses are expected to complete, 20 of those hours must have included participatory learning. This ensures that healthcare professionals spend the majority of their CPD hours on activities that provide obvious and actionable value to their role.
As well as these reasons, healthcare CPD also offers a number of benefits to participants, including learning new skills, networking, confidence building, improved attention to detail and more.
Benefits of CPD in Healthcare
For some, CPD may seem like a waste of time in an already time-demanding role. However, there are a number of benefits associated with CPD that go beyond revalidation. These include:
- Improved knowledge and skills base
- Confidence building
- Networking
- Learning a new specialism or progressing into a new specialism
- Improving core skills such as attention to detail, active listening, critical thinking, teamwork and time management
- Reigniting your passion for the industry
Types of CPD Courses for Healthcare Professionals
As we mentioned earlier, CPD comes in a variety of different forms, but a popular choice is a CPD course as they tend to span a good number of hours and are considered participatory learning, especially if there is a workshop element. At Breeze Academy, we offer a range of CPD courses for healthcare professionals to help advance their knowledge and improve service offerings.
Acupuncture & Dry Needling
Acupuncture and Dry Needling has been shown to be effective in the treatment of a wide range of conditions, making it a particularly beneficial skill to learn via CPD. Our foundation-level CPD course provides you with all of the knowledge, skills and confidence (plus certification) you need to be able to offer Acupuncture and Dry Needling as part of your healthcare practice.
Massage Therapy
Likewise, Massage Therapy is also known for its ability to help with a number of musculoskeletal conditions in particular, but also a variety of other conditions like sciatica and even pregnancy-related issues. Broaden your skill set with our Level 3 Sports Massage Training course where we take you from being a complete beginner to a competent practitioner in 225 hours.
Strength & Conditioning
Strength and Conditioning training can be beneficial for a wide range of conditions from specific conditions such as arthritis to weight-related conditions and age-related conditions. Breeze Academy offers a Strength and Conditioning course ideal for Therapists that covers the fundamentals of exercise prescription over 100 hours.
Yoga Therapy
Our Clinical Yoga Teacher Training course is an essential course for Physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals looking to teach Yoga to their clients. Yoga offers a wide range of benefits for patients, including: reduced stress, anxiety and depression, improved cardiovascular health, reduced inflammation and more.
Final Thoughts
Healthcare CPD is vital for the upkeep of knowledge, skills and competence post-studies, as well as being highly beneficial for the improvement of soft skills, such as active listening and attention to detail, and for career progression.
At Breeze Academy, we offer a range of CPD courses for healthcare professionals, including Acupuncture & Dry Needling, Sports Massage Therapy, Strength & Conditioning and Clinical Yoga Teacher Training. All of our courses provide you with everything you need to confidently and competently implement your newly learned skills into your practice. Learn more online today.