Continuing Education or Professional Development (CPD)...Continuing from last issue of Boardtalk

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Ongoing Commitment:
As we mentioned in the last issue of Boardtalk, the NSW Board has agreed to participating in a nationally uniform “point scoring system” for the minimum requirement of continuing professional development. This alone cannot ensure veterinarians keep all their skills up to date and are fully competent but acknowledges to the individual, the Profession and the public that, as a professional, there is a ongoing commitment to maintain and enhance professional skills and knowledge. As we mentioned before, this is going to be a self regulated trial and is not envisaged to have a bearing on continuing registration. In the event of a complaint against a veterinarian the information could be very useful for the veterinarian’s defence. In many professions, demonstration of ongoing CPD is a condition of continuing registration.

Recordkeeping:
The NSW Board is requesting veterinarians to commence documentation from January 2004 (you can certainly track back and keep records from this year and last year if you wish). While some Boards are sending out folders or cards to veterinarians, NSW is asking, at this time, that you commence immediately and keep records. As we have mentioned before, this is a national initiative.

The level of participation in continuing education programmes should be enough to maintain the individual’s competency in their chosen field of work. If the veterinarian is a registered specialist, the standard will be commensurate with those required to achieve and maintain contemporary registration in their chosen area of speciality.

National Points System:
The points system below has been put together by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council Inc. with input by all States and territories and New Zealand. Remember, this is a National Continuing Education or Professional Development Scheme.

Requirements over a 3 year period are:

Structured units =15
Unstructured = 45
Total = 60

It is thought that this is quite achievable. By allowing the units to accumulate over three years, it will allow for attendance or presentation at courses in areas that may not be commonplace in mainstream veterinary medicine.

You should make a note of any courses, seminars or other continuing education units you wish to count for your points total. For the seminars/lectures/conferences the important details to record are:

• Name/title of lecture
• Dates and times involved
• Name of lecturer

If reading is being counted for units, you would detail fully the name of chapters and articles in journals/reference book fully referencing the material.

Retain the Records:
At this stage we ask that you keep these yourself. It is likely we will ask you each year for a tally of the units, structured and unstructured, but you would need to have the full records kept elsewhere. We are asking that you retain the records for a minimum of 5 years.

Recordkeeping will be required by all registered veterinarians, full time and part time:

• in private practice
• in the Rural Lands Protection Boards
• in Government
• in institutions

Exceptions:

1. If you have Honorary Registration and are not practising, you would be asked to make a declaration to this
   effect on your Annual Renewal Notice seeking exemption from this requirement. Honorary veterinarians who are performing acts of veterinary science are expected to partake to the same extent as other registered veterinarians
2. New graduates would be exempt for the first 12 months following graduation
3. People doing formal postgraduate training in a relevant field such as Masters and PhD programmes

It isn’t possible to give blanket exemption for all those veterinarians involved in academia or research as the areas they work in may or may not be related to veterinary science.

Again, when asked for the units, a case could be made if appropriate.

Good Professional Practice:
Practitioners will say “What, more paper work!”. This is not a big ask, you can easily devise a book with a page per staff member for instance. Under OH&S requirements, lay staff are to be suitably trained. Therefore, recording the training given to nurses and kennel staff in this book could be an advantage.

Undertaking CPD is part of good professional practice. What sort of material would be relevant to the veterinarian? It can be drawn from a wide range but basically should relate to the area/s of veterinary science where you practice. While many topics concern technical veterinary medicine/surgery, the CPD should cover the wide variety of areas impacting on us today and that could include: practice management, stress management and communication skills

Broadly, any educational material emanating from organisations affiliated with the World Veterinary Association, recognised universities and other tertiary institutions should be considered. Rural practitioners in the past felt justifiably disadvantaged by distance but with the internet, AVA Branch seminars, Department of Agriculture workshops and Post Graduate Committee “Time Out” workshops, journal subscriptions and even distance education programmes, this distance issue is starting to be met. If veterinarians outside the metropolitan areas find these requirements hard to meet-please tell us! The Board can then assess and even communicate (i.e. lobby) with service providers. We are interested in your feedback and suggestions as to making this work. Please email your comments to the Registrar at the Board’s office: registrar@vsb.nsw.gov.au

Relevant Contacts:

• Susanna Smith, Veterinary Education & Information Network:
  Tel: 9351 7319
• Australian Veterinary Association, NSW Division:
  Tel: 9411 2066
• NSW Agriculture (switchboard):
  Tel: 96391 3100
• Australian Veterinary Boards Council, Inc:
  Tel: 03 9620 7844

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