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CPD frameworks

Continued Professional Development (CPD)  is an organized continuation of professional development encompassing a range of learning activities. In medical physics CPD serves as a mechanism that ensures a physicist retains their capacity to practise safely and effectively, and for this reason is often part of legal certification requirements. In some countries clinical physicists are required to maintain adequate records of their CPD activities as part of their professional registration so that they are legally allowed to practise.

CPD encompasses all activities which extend knowledge, skills and the personal qualities required to deliver services. The range of activities that could be part of a professional’s CPD is very wide but broadly falls into five categories:

1. Work based learning, e.g. learning by doing, case studies, being a representative on a committee, in-service training, supervising staff or students
2. Professional activity, e.g. involvement in a professional body, membership of a specialist interest group, lecturing or teaching.
3. Formal / educational, e.g. courses, further education, attending conferences, writing articles or papers
4. Self-directed learning, e.g. reading journals/articles, reviewing books or articles, keeping a file of your progress
5. Other, e.g. public service, voluntary work

The EFOMP reference found in the related links provides a good background to this topic, including the importance of CPD and types of schemes that might be employed by a country’s national professional body for Medical Physicists.