Selecting Activities and Engaging in Meaningful CPD

Once you’ve reflected on your learning needs, set achievable goals, and reviewed your context of practice, the final, and often most enjoyable part of planning your CPD is selecting the learning activities you’ll engage in.

With an abundance of CPD opportunities available, accumulating your minimum required hours is rarely the challenge. The real task is choosing meaningful, effective, and relevant activities to you, your learning goals, and your current or future context of practice.

This article will guide nurses and midwives through choosing high-quality learning and preparing for CPD that actually makes a difference.

Key Considerations When Choosing CPD Activities

To ensure your learning is purposeful and aligned with the NMBA’s CPD standard, each activity you select should:

• Be relevant to your identified learning needs
• Be appropriate for your current context of practice
• Or, if you’re changing or progressing in your career, support a future or anticipated context of practice
  

Ask yourself: Will this learning help build my professional practice and grow in my planned direction?

Content Integrity Checklist

All CPD activities are not created equal. Just like in clinical practice, we assess the integrity of guidelines and evidence before applying them. Your CPD should be held to the same standard.

Use this checklist to evaluate the content integrity of any CPD activity:

1. Is the topic relevant and evidence-based?
2. Are the learning outcomes clearly stated?
3. Who is the educator? What are their credentials?
4. Is the content original and properly cited?
5. Is the format accessible and suitable for your learning style?
6. Is the activity engaging and well-structured?
7. What evaluation or assessment method is included?
8. Does a pharmaceutical company sponsor the activity? Could this impact the integrity of the content?
9. Are there any conflicts of interest or disclosures?
10. Is the activity accredited (note: different from endorsed)?
11. Has the content been peer-reviewed or recently updated?
12. Does it include references and additional learning materials?
13. If medicine-related, are the sources credible and up-to-date?
14. How many people have completed it? Are there reviews?

This group of considerations forms the content integrity of a CPD activity, just like clinical content, integrity matters with CPD just as much.

Choosing Your CPD Provider

As most health professionals are time-conscious, choosing your CPD provider carefully matters. It ensures you’re not wasting your time on poorly designed or referenced activities.

Choose reputable organisations with a strong track record of delivering evidence-based, current, and practical learning.

You’ll spend much time engaging in CPD throughout your career, so invest that time wisely.

Ask:

• Do I trust this provider?
• Do they explain where their content comes from?
• Is the activity up-to-date or reviewed recently?
• Are they focused on improving practice, not just compliance?

Types of CPD Activities

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning. The format can be formal or informal, as long as it meets your learning needs, goals, and context of practice.

Examples include:

• Postgraduate study
• In-service or workplace education
• Online education
• Conferences, seminars, and webinars
• Podcasts and self-directed learning
• Mentoring, coaching, or clinical supervision
• Reading journals or participating in journal clubs

Tip: If your learning aligns with your context of practice and goals, meets an identified need, and you can articulate its impact, then it counts.

Is Mandatory Training CPD?

True or false: Does all mandatory training count toward CPD?
Answer: False.

This is one of the most misunderstood areas of CPD.

Activities like OH&S, manual handling, and bullying and harassment training do not automatically count as CPD. They may be counted only if they include new learning, meet a current learning need (as identified in the planning phase) and are relevant to your context of practice.

Simply documenting your annual workplace mandatory training every year will not meet the CPD expectations and risk compliance with the registration standard during an audit.

What If I’m an Educator?

Developing or delivering education can be counted as CPD, but only if:

• It relates to an identified learning need or goal
• It leads to new or refined knowledge or an impact on your practice
• It’s not just a repeat of the same session or content

If you’re facilitating the same session for the fifth time with no change, that doesn’t count. But if you’re refining your content or tailoring it to new audiences, it likely does.

Choose Wisely and Enjoy Learning

Select activities that are relevant, credible, engaging, and suited to your needs and goals. Choose providers you trust, and formats that work for your lifestyle.

Above all, enjoy the process. Good CPD can spark curiosity, build confidence, and lead to real change in your professional practice.

After reading about selecting credible CPD activities, do you intend to change how you engage in CPD?

Ready to choose credible CPD?

Explore 1,200+ evidence-based learning activities designed for Australian nurses and midwives in the Ausmed Library™.

Track your CPD hours, reflect on your learning, and stay audit-ready with the Ausmed CPD App.

Get started at ausmed.com.au