#CPDisEasy: Submitting a full, four-step CPD entry in 13 minutes

The South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC)'s continuing professional development (CPD) process is the easiest around. It literally requires one to answer four easy questions about their CPD activity, and then voilà, one entry down! This blog post demonstrates how easy it is to comply.

The four-steps and their four easy questions?

• Step 1: Reflection on practice (Answers the questions – What do I need to know? What do I need to be able to do?)
• Step 2: Planning (Answers the question – How can I learn?)
• Step 3: Implementation (Describes the action taken – what did I do?)
• Step 4: Evaluation or reflection on learning (Answers the questions – What have I learnt? How is it benefiting my practice?)

In a nutshell, you just need to answer the following questions to comply: (a) What do I need to know and be able to do? (b) How can I learn or acquire the new skill? (c) After having undertaken your learning, answer this: What action did I take or how did I learn or acquire the new skills? (d) What have I learnt and how is it benefiting my practice or how is it improving how I work?. It is that easy.

For those of us who have grasped the process, we can stop reading here and watch the below video to see this process in action. However, those requiring further details may gain detailed knowledge by reading from the paragraphs below.

The four-step process in detail

STEP 1: Reflection on practice – Identify your own learning needs, knowledge and skills gaps.You can do this by answering the following questions:

• What do I need to know?
• What do I need to be able to do?

There are many ways in which one can identify skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to broaden their knowledge. One can identify the learning needs relevant to current or future roles.

STEP 2: Planning – Plan your development according to the identified learning needs. You can do this by answering the following questions:

• How can I learn and where do I begin?
• Do I need to look for a course?
• Is there practical work involved?
• Can I do some self-study?
• Can I contact an expert in the field?

STEP 3: Implementation – Put your plan into effect. This may involve, but is not limited to:

• Self-study;
• Calling an expert;
• Attendance of a journal club, lecture or symposium;
• Attendance of courses and workshops.

STEP 4: Evaluation / Reflection on learning – Evaluate what you have learned. The following questions may be asked:

• Did I achieve what I was hoping to learn?
• Am I able to apply the knowledge and the skills acquired?
• Am I able to transfer the skills acquired?
• Do I have any further learning gaps?

We hope this blog post was useful.