CPD for the Whole Dental Team

As the end of the first five-year cycle of continuing professional development (CPD) approaches this July, the GDC is urging all dental care professionals (DCPs) to complete the required 150 hours of CPD. The learning and development of DCPs is important to strengthening the level of care practical teams can provide. But one recent report quoted that over 43,000 DCP registrants will end their five-year cycle in 2013. Yet of these, 19% have currently not declared any hours and 33% have declared hours for their first year only. [1]

With the plethora of CPD resources and providers available, why is it that DCPs are struggling to fulfil CPD requirements? Literature published by the GDC[2] on this subject suggests that cost of training, ease of access and work patterns affect all healthcare groups – but in different ways. Therefore the need to make CPD versatile, inexpensive and easy to access is paramount; and there a few ways practices could look to put this into action.

The overall picture of continuing education for DCPs can be positive if the issue of a lack of funding is addressed. A survey on the attitudes of dental hygienists towards CPD for example, indicated that involvement in CPD was good but they just needed more support for CPD activities.[3] Another barrier to education for some DCPs was the geographical location of learning events, since time and money is required to attend. A remedy could certainly be distance learning, e-Learning and private study that can be ‘picked up’ at any time. In fact, 73% of participants in the same survey reported that they would find distance learning to be a desirable alternative to physically attending events.

In response to some of these barriers to learning, online CPD providers such as

ProDentalCPD host over 600 e-Learning modules and members are granted access to CPD articles and videos that cover the fields of Dentistry, Dental Nursing, Dental Hygiene and Dental Technology. Such e-Learning material can be accessed at any time of the day and is flexible since it does not need to be completed in one sitting - it can be started and stopped as other priorities arise.

The purpose of CPD is to maintain public confidence in the dental profession and to enhance standards of patient care. This is can be achieved by registrants if they invest in life-long learning. The skills and knowledge of registrants will then evolve so that the best possible treatment and care is given to patients. For the skills dental professionals learned when qualifying, could easily become out of date if dental professionals are not familiar with burgeoning developments in clinical research, technological innovations and techniques that constantly improve dentistry.

The practical application of evidence-based learning to the workplace is an important benefit of CPD. New skills, knowledge and techniques that are acquired during CPD can be applied to practice. Making the most out of the extensive training and learning resources available can also be made easier by formulating effective personal development plans for all dental professionals.

For easy to use and flexible online CPD that is suitable for all members of the dental team, choose ProDentalCPD as your e-Learning provider. 

To learn more about high-quality e-Learning solutions, contact ProDentalCPD on 0114 282 3509, or visit www.prodentalcpd.com