Veterinary professionals are encouraged to do CPD to maintain their professional certification, stay up to date with the latest advances in veterinary medicine and assure public trust in the profession. One can view it as an opportunity for growth and development, but it can easily turn into a tick-box exercise if the courses do not stimulate you intellectually or you are unable to implement your learnings. So, what can you do to get the most out of your CPD?
1. Plan
When last did you sit back and look for growth opportunities or skills that can help you practice the standard of veterinary care that you would like to provide to your patients? Look at CPD calendars that you have access to and set reminders for webinars or events that may interest you. The worst is to miss events that would benefit you personally and professionally simply because you were unaware that they were happening. You can even ask your practice manager or an enthusiastic staff member to be on the lookout for events addressing the topics that you find interesting.
2. Incorporate CPD as part of your Professional Development Plan
Professional Development Plans are very popular in corporate companies, however, in veterinary practices, they are often not implemented or used as a tool for performance management. Professional Development Plans are customized to the staff member and help both the managers and staff be on the same page as to where a staff member is currently and where they would like to go. These plans help manage expectations and can be a great way to keep staff motivated and can help ensure that individual staff members align their professional goals with the practice’s vision and can help with succession planning.
3. Identify key CPD opportunities
Get your practice involved and identify CPD opportunities that can benefit you professionally as well as have benefit for your practice. If you can learn new skills that can be implemented as new sources of revenue, your practice will be more inclined to pay for courses or give you time off to attend CPD events. By planning and identifying key opportunities throughout the year, you will be able to focus your energy on CPD events that interest you.
4. Make use of online resources
If you find a webinar that is of interest of you, but the speaker is in USA, UK, South Africa or anywhere else in the world – this no longer has to prevent you from attending CPD courses. Yes, we still believe that nothing can replace hands-on, practical courses where you have the opportunity to master new skills while attending the course, but there are fantastic online resources that can help you learn new skills from the comfort of your couch. Webinars allow you to ask questions to the speakers and it helps you learn skills from individuals all around the world who face the same problems that you do.
5. Follow CPD providers on Social Media
Social Media has made it easy for everyone to know what is happening, what upcoming events are and prevent the fax from getting lost and never making its way to the notice board in your practice (do you remember the days?!). You can follow relevant CPD providers on social media and show interest in events, you will be kept up to date on changes or information surrounding the event. Never has it been so easy to stay up to date with what is happening. Look for the companies that you know, ask your fellow vets and start following them on social media!
6. Be on the lookout for industry events
Often the veterinary corporates combine product launches with CPD events. It is the most cost-effective way to attend CPD events. These often count a few points but are well worth the additional knowledge gained about the products. Also, look for CPD events in your area, if you stay any of the large cities, there are often more CPD events than you are aware of. If you are a veterinarian in a rural practice, ask your peers if they know of events close-by and get creative with online events.
7. Network with other professionals
Are you part of a journal club or do you often have discussions with your colleagues and friends about the latest updates in veterinary medicine? There is a reason why most of the tech innovation come from Silicon Valley or similar entrepreneurial hubs – it is a concept called co-opetition: cooperating with your competition whereby you compete and cooperate simultaneously. This sparks innovation as you constantly look for new ways to be better than the practice down the road, offer better services, do things differently and get more clients. There will be no need to innovate if everyone is happy with the status quo and continuing the way things have always been done. Competition drives us to be better, to come up with new ideas, to push ourselves and to offer a better service to our clients. Healthy competition can give you a reason to reach our full potential – and there is no-one better than our colleagues and peers to drive us to start the journey.
8. Keep track of your CPD points
Document your CPD points, know how many points you have earned, wherein your CPD cycle you are and how many you need at any given point. Keep track of your CPD points and you will never be caught off guard by the auditors.
9. File your CPD certificates
There is nothing worse than trying to get all of your CPD certificates together if you are audited – especially for your three-year cycle if you have moved practices or life happened in-between. It can be a tedious process to scroll through emails, look through papers in your office and looking for pamphlets of product launches to find your certificates. If you get a paper CPD certificate, scan it in and file it right away. If you are not good with admin, ask one of your staff members to keep track of all the filing and keep each other accountable at the practice to do it immediately after an event. Have a dedicated folder with all your CPD certificates – trust me, you will thank yourself for doing it the moment you are audited.
How do you make sure that you get the most out of your CPD? Do you have any tips to share?
