Nursing CPD – Courses, Events & Resources

CPD points and CPD hours are one and the same thing. In the past, a point system was used to quantify CPD learning, however due to much inclarity surrounding the ‘value of a point’, CPD is now measured exclusively in hours.

That said, some professional organisations still award ‘CPD points’ for education and training they provide. For these instances, you can usually assume that 1 CPD point will equate to 1 CPD hour. However, it’s important to note that CPD point systems are not endorsed by the NMBA, and it’s up to the individual nurse or midwife to calculate how many hours of ‘active learning’ takes place during any training. In this respect, CPD points may give you a good sense for how many CPD hours you will earn, but it shouldn’t be relied upon as a true measure for documentation purposes.

There is a wide variety of activities that can be considered CPD for a nurse or midwife. It can be anything from a master’s degree, to self-directed learning such as reading a nursing journal. As long as it’s properly documented and you can relate it back to your ‘context of practice’, then it can be considered as CPD. Outlined below are some examples of various ways to earn your CPD.

CPD Courses & Training

There is an abundance of tertiary, vocational, and short course options to choose from. Some are even free depending on your affiliations to professional bodies.

• Online or face-to-face short courses
• Postgraduate or vocational study
• Workshops or practical training courses

Events, Seminars and Groups

• Attending a conference, seminar, lecture or webinar (in person or online)
• Discussion groups with professional associations, committees, or portfolio groups

On-The-Job Learning

• Developing protocols, policy and guidelines for the workplace
• Contributing to clinical meetings, audits, and case reviews
• Working with a mentor to improve practice
• Undertaking high-level duties for a period of time

Teaching/Education

• Acting as a preceptor or mentor to students/staff
• Educational presentations to students/staff, or at relevant events
• Presenting at an in-service workshop or developing educational tools

Self-Directed Learning

• Reflecting on feedback or keeping a practice journal
• Reviewing or writing educational materials, journal articles, or books
• Watching a video learning activity online

To avoid the stress of not meeting the CPD criteria at registration renewal time, be sure to plan how you intend to earn your CPD ahead of time, and keep an eye out for courses, study days, or workshop events you can attend throughout the year.

‘Context of practice’ describes the specific circumstances in which a nurse or midwife practices their profession. This is important when considering how you will earn your CPD hours, as you must align your learning hours back to your professional area of practice. This may include:

• The type of practice environment (e.g. administration, education, clinical care, management, or research)
• The location of the practice environment (e.g. urban, remote, or rural)
• The focus of activities (e.g. health promotion, research, management)
• The patient characteristics (e.g. age, health status, learning requirements)
• The extent to which practice is autonomous
• The available resources (including access to other healthcare professionals)

Further, ‘practice’ can mean any role in which the nurse or midwife uses their skills and knowledge as a health practitioner, whether remunerated or not. It doesn’t simply mean clinical care, it can also involve research, non-clinical relationships with clients, working in management, developing policies, education, advising, or any other role associated with the development and delivery of services in the profession.

Nurses and midwives have an obligation to provide ethical, effective, safe and competent practice. Learning and development occurs throughout a nurse’s and/or midwife’s career and CPD is an important foundation of lifelong learning which helps nurses and midwives maintain their competence to practice.

Recording your CPD is critical in demonstrating you have undertaken a learning activity where you have gained knowledge within your context of practice. Formal reflection and documentation must be undertaken after the completion of the activity in order for it to to contribute to your CPD hours.

The NMBA provides guidance on how to best approach CPD documentation – including:

• The identified learning need – based on an evaluation of your practice against the relevant competency or professional practice standards
• A learning plan – based on identified learning needs
• Your participation in the learning activity – relevant to learning needs
• The outcome achieved and reflection on the value or effect that participation in the learning activity will have on professional practice.
• References to the articles that you have read are needed for self-directed activities.

Records of CPD activities must be kept for a period of five years from the date CPD is completed. All CPD records must be available for audit or if needed by the NMBA or the Council as part of an assessment arising from a notification (complaint).

The NMBA provides a free example template for documenting your CPD here.

Each year when you renew your registration, you will be asked to confirm that you have completed the required CPD hours by making an annual statement. The annual statement should confirm that:

• You have met the recency of practice requirements stated in the National Board’s registration standard.
• You have met the National Board’s CPD requirements as set out in the National Board’s CPD registration standard during the previous
  registration period (1 June to 31 May).
• You have practised in accordance with the requirements of the National Board’s Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) arrangements.
• You have notified any change in your criminal history during the previous registration period and whether you have any other criminal history that has not been disclosed to AHPRA.

Nurses and midwives are randomly audited against registration standards. As per the most recent statistics provided by AHPRA (which can be found here) there were 5,414 new audits of compliance with registration standards initiated. If this happens to you, you will be asked to provide a record of how you achieved compliance with the mandatory registration standards of the NMBA and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). These audits occur periodically throughout the year. Anyone selected will receive an audit notice letter in the mail from AHPRA. It will outline what is required to provide evidence of compliance with registration standards.

One or more of the following mandatory standards can be audited:

• Criminal history registration standard
• Continuing professional development registration standard
• Recency of practice registration standard
• Professional Indemnity Insurance arrangements registration standard.

A learning plan is a self-directed tool to help you provide evidence for CPD and improve your self awareness in regards to learning and development. Outline below are 5 simple steps to follow, when preparing a learning plan.

• STEP 1: Develop a learning need

  A learning need is something you need to learn or do to ensure you maintain your competence to practice as a nurse and/or midwife. This could be as simple as needing to know what the latest research advice is about managing a venous ulcer. Or it could involve a lot more time and investment, such as acquiring a new qualification to enable you to deliver an immunisation program.

• STEP 2: Identify 2 or more 'Standards of Practice'

  Once you have identified your learning need you need to think about how achieving this will demonstrate and support your ability to meet registration standards for practice.

  For example: Learning need – Managing diabetic ulcers

  Registered Nurse Standards of Practice – Standard 1: Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice. RNs use a variety of thinking strategies and the best available evidence in making decisions and providing safe, quality nursing practice within person-centred and evidence-based frameworks. 1.2 develops practice through reflection on experiences, knowledge, actions, feelings and beliefs to identify how these shape practice.

  Registered Nurse Standards of Practice – Standard 4: Comprehensively conducts assessments. RNs accurately conduct comprehensive and systematic assessments. They analyse information and data and communicate outcomes as the basis for practice. 4.2 uses a range of assessment techniques to systematically collect relevant and accurate information and data to inform practice. Having a clear understanding and knowledge of the relevant professional standards for practice is essential for successful CPD.

• STEP 3 - Develop objectives for your learning need

  Develop an objective for the learning need Objectives for the identified learning need have to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely

  • SPECIFIC – To set a specific identified learning need consider. What do I want to accomplish? Who or what is involved? What is the purpose or benefits of accomplishing the objective?
  • MEASURABLE – Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each identified learning need set. How much do I need to do, how long will it take me, and how will I know when it’s accomplished?
  • ATTAINABLE – The learning need should be both possible and realistic while still being challenging. Having an identified learning need that pushes you and allows for personal growth that will lead to improvements in your practice.
  • RELEVANT – The identified learning need is not only within reach of your skill levels but also has meaning and relates directly to your practice and the ability to meet the standards.
  • TIMELY – Having a time frame established allows you to monitor your progress, stay on track, and make adjustments to meet the identified learning needs as required.

• STEP 4 - Identify 2 or more activities to achieve your objectives

  It is recommended by the NMBA that a range of activities are undertaken throughout the CPD year. Both informal and formal activities are accepted using a combination of techniques such as faceto-face, simulation, self-directed learning, and e-learning. Accepted activities can include certification, reading, workshops and conferences.

• STEP 5: Repeat the process

  Repeat the process 20 hours is the minimum requirement for CPD. The NMBA will expect you to demonstrate you have taken as much time as needed to effectively meet your learning needs. For example, undertaking a course to enable you to deliver an immunisation program may take longer than 20 hours. In this case you must demonstrate that you have undertaken sufficient hours to complete the activities required to achieve competence to practice in this area. You may have more than one learning need. In each case you must repeat steps one to four even if it takes you more than 20 hours per registration period to complete.

Once you have completed your activities you will need to reflect on what you have learnt and whether it met your learning need. You must keep an accurate and up to date record of all these steps and the activities you undertook.

Reflective practice is the process of using purposeful reflection to improve care and practice. Reflection is a key element in the development of a learning plan so it is important to understand how to reflect on practice before embarking on a learning plan.

• Reflection before action – Involves thinking about what you aim to achieve and understanding the means by which this will be accomplished by drawing on previous experience
• Reflection in action – This is often referred to “thinking on your feet”. It is how you conduct yourself while undertaking a task and what you do to adapt your practice while undertaking the task. This is critically thinking and problem solving in the moment.
• Reflection on action – When you look retrospectively at how practice was undertaken and evaluate the information gathered in relation to knowledge, new learning and professional development.
• Professional reflection – Requires a focused and strategic approach in contrast to reflection on personal and social circumstances. Models of reflection are recommended to assist thinking, here is one example. Relating reflective records to the NMBA standards and codes demonstrates how you are complying with these standards in your practice.