Continuing professional development (CPD)

Authors

van den Hoogen A, Johnston L, Roehr CC, Panas M, Gözen D, Mannix T, Kühn T, Petty J, Schlembach D, Simeone N, Stoniene D, Tency I, Warren I

Target group

Healthcare professionals working in neonatal care

User group

Parents and families, healthcare professionals, neonatal units, hospitals, professional societies, regulators of the profession

Statement of standard

All healthcare professionals have access to and undertake continuing professional development to deliver safe and effective healthcare.

Rationale

The commitment to professional development is essential to be able to deliver effective and safe healthcare for infants and their families. (1) Professional development requires life-long learning. (2) Professional development is required so that professionals keep up with the scientific and technological changes that are occurring in healthcare settings. (3)

The availability of a variety of faculty development programmes can prepare practicing healthcare professionals for different roles within their institution; such as practitioner, educator and scholar/researcher. (4) The content of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes needs to be adapted for use to fit the national context, and to reflect the specific needs, health priorities, legislative and regulatory standards that govern safe healthcare across different countries. (5)

Benefits

Improved staff retention (3)
Improved job satisfaction (3)
Opportunities for personal and professional development (3)

Components of the standard

Component

Grading of evidence

Indicator of meeting the standard

For parents and family

Parents contribute their perspective to the CPD opportunities available to healthcare professionals. (6)

B (Low quality)

Parent feedback

For healthcare professionals

CPD is undertaken by all healthcare professionals.

B (High quality)

Training documentation

Each healthcare professional is able to set professional development goals. (3)

B (Low quality)

Training documentation

For neonatal unit and hospital

The access to CPD is ensured.

B (High quality)

Training documentation

CPD is valued and included in everyday work practices.

B (Moderate quality)

Training documentation

Opportunities for workplace learning are available.

B (Moderate quality)

Audit report¹, training documentation

For professional societies

Structured CPD activities for members are available.

B (Moderate quality)

Training documentation

For regulators of the profession

Evidence of CPD is required for re-licensing.

B (High quality)

Training documentation

For health service

N/A

¹The indicator “audit report” can also be defined as a benchmarking report.

Where to go

Further development

Grading of evidence

For parents and family

Parents contribute to continuing professional development (CPD) activities. (7)

B (Low quality)

For healthcare professionals

N/A

For neonatal unit

N/A

For hospital

Establish a curriculum that prepares frontline caregivers to partner with families to identify problems on the units, to develop testable strategies for improvement, and to develop their leadership skills to lead further system change. (6)

B (Low quality)

For professional societies

Develop a broad CPD programme to enhance practice.

B (Moderate quality)

For regulators of the profession

N/A

For health service

N/A

Getting started

Initial steps

For parents and family

N/A

For healthcare professionals

Seek out availability of CPD opportunities.

For neonatal unit

N/A

For hospital

Support healthcare professionals to undertake CPD.
Ensure support for and advice about CPD by hospital managers.
Ensure commitment of key decision makers to value of CPD.
Provide the internal infrastructure for CPD (e.g. library access, classroom time, online module availability).

For professional societies

N/A

For regulators of the profession

Develop CPD as a component for licensing healthcare professionals.

For health service

N/A

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November 2018 / 1st edition / next revision: 2023

Recommended citation

EFCNI, van den Hoogen A, Johnston L et al., European Standards of Care for Newborn Health: Continuing professional development (CPD). 2018.

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