Revised CPD registration standard

From 1 January 2023, the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) is introducing a new CPD registration standard for all doctors. The three main changes to CPD for doctors are:

• CPD homes to be created, and all doctors to have joined a CPD home by 1 January 2024. CPD homes will be accredited in 2022 and 2023.
• Professional development plans to be created and reviewed each year.
• CPD to be allocated to three core categories.

The new standard will require non – exempt doctors to meet the following requirements:

• Undertake a CPD program of an accredited CPD home OR for doctors who have not selected their CPD home in 2023 continue the self-directed CPD under the existing 2016 CPD standard 
• For doctors with specialist registration, their specialty college may be their CPD home OR they can join another CPD home that is relevant to their scope of practice and meet its CPD requirements OR meet the MBA 2016 registration standard by doing their own CPD program that meets the CPD requirements of their relevant specialist college.
• From 2024, all doctors will be required to have a CPD home
• Develop a written professional development plan (PDP) each year
• Complete a minimum of 50 hours per year of CPD activities that are relevant to their scope of practice and individual professional development needs
• Allocate a minimum 50 hours per year between a mix of the core CPD categories: education activities, reviewing performance and measuring outcomes
• Self-evaluate CPD activity at the end of the year as they prepare their PDP for the next year
• Retain records of annual CPD activity for audit by their CPD home and the MBA for three years after the end of each one-year cycle.

CPD requirements vary for each type of doctor. See here for detail on what you need to do to meet CPD requirements in 2023.

People who fall into the following categories are not required to meet the CPD standard:

• Medical students
• For doctors in training (intern or PGY2) participating in structured program or accredited intern program, no extra CPD is required.
• For an accredited specialist trainee participating in their specialist training program, no extra CPD is required.
• For doctors with a non-practising registration or those with limited registration (less than four weeks), no CPD is required.
• Doctors who’ve been granted a CPD exemption by their CPD home. CPD exemptions may be granted by CPD homes for doctors who are on parental leave or due to illness.

All doctors will be required to do 50 hours of CPD which is relevant to their scope of practice. CPD undertaken must be spread across three types of CPD activities annually. The minimum requirement for each activity is provided below:

• Education activities: minimum of 12.5 hours annually
• Reviewing performance and measuring outcomes: minimum of 25 hours annually, with a minimum of five hours in each category.

The remaining 12.5 hours can be allocated to any type of activity of the doctor’s choosing.

Doctors will also need to meet the high level CPD requirements set by their CPD home.

The MBA has provided examples of different activities for each type of CPD. This list is not exhaustive and CPD homes may also have developed further guidance on the types of activities which can be undertaken for each CPD type.

Educational CPD activities

• active learning modules
• courses and workshops
• editing or reviewing research or educational material
• leading/participating in research and publishing or presenting findings
• lectures, forums, panels
• participating in clinical guideline development
• participating in forums/panels/ educational meetings
• participating in committees for education or research
• preparing patient education materials
• reading, viewing, listening to educational material
• small group sessions
• study towards formal qualifications
• supervised practice
• supervising and mentoring
• teaching, lecturing, examining, assessing and evaluating
• undertaking college/society educational roles

Measuring outcomes activities

• assessing incident reports
• audit focused on participant’s own practice
• audit (practice, national or international)
• root cause analysis
• incident report
• individual or organisation quality improvement project
• leading, analysing, writing reports on healthcare outcomes
• M&M meetings, case conferences
• multi-disciplinary team meetings

Reviewing performance activities

• accrediting/auditing practices, hospitals, training sites
• direct observation of practice by colleague or in team setting
• medico-legal work (report, expert witness)
• multi-disciplinary team meetings
• multi-source feedback
• medical services survey/review
• participating in clinical governance/QA committees
• patient experience survey
• peer review group meetings
• professional development plan
• self-evaluation and reflection
• workplace performance appraisal

A PDP is a written plan that outlines a practitioner’s learning goals relevant to their current and intended scope of practice and how they will achieve the goals. It includes self-evaluation of the learning goals and achievements from the previous CPD cycle and the planned CPD activities to achieve learning goals in the current year. PDPs are designed to:

• embed a culture of lifelong learning within the medical profession
• assist in identifying gaps in knowledge and opportunities to develop
• align learning to practice needs
• assist in maintaining and developing skills and knowledge to changes in practice.

Doctors must create and review their PDP each year and include any specific training requirements specified by their CPD home. The time spent creating and reviewing a PDP is recognised under the reviewing performance CPD type and this time can be allocated towards CPD hours.

All CPD homes are required to be accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC).

From 2023, all AMC accredited specialist medical colleges will be eligible to transition to become a CPD home.

The AMC are currently reviewing applications from other organisations who applied to be a CPD home. Doctors who are outside of a CPD home in 2023 are required to continue to undertake self-directed CPD and join a CPD home relevant to their specialty and scope of practice by January 2024.

There are two options available to doctors who hold more than one specialist registration:

1. for those currently doing each colleges’ CPD program, they will meet the CPD requirements 
2. if not doing each colleges’ CPD program, continue to undertake self-directed learning which meets the colleges’ requirements, look out for a new CPD home relevant to the scope of practice and join this CPD home by January 2024.