Dental Care Professionals
You will by now be aware that the General Dental Council extended compulsory Continuing Education to all Dental Care Professionals from July 2008.
How will this affect you?
So you have passed your exams, proved your competence, and you are now on, or working towards inclusion on the General Dental Council’s DCP register. You can sit back on your operating stool, relax at your workbench and forget all about learning and studying for the rest of your working life right? Wrong. We know that from August 2008 the GDC extended compulsory CPD to all DCPs and we all need to start thinking and planning of how we are going to provide evidence of targeted life-long learning.
It will be vital that you plan any learning around the evidence of the needs that arise from a Personal Development Portfolio. It is essential that you and your patients benefit as much as possible from your CPD.
It is all too easy to view CPD (Continuing Professional Development) as a chore.
We now must undertake CPD to fulfil our General Dental Council re-certification requirements. Clinical governance also requires us to show a commitment to CPD.
The disadvantages could be seen as cost and a waste of our precious surgery time. We may question whether we need to go on courses just because we are forced accumulate a certain numbers of hours of training and education!
However, the advantages of the training and education are well documented. They lead to a better informed and educated workforce which in general provides more job satisfaction.
Developing a suitable CPD programme is a personal responsibility, but there is much to be gained from sharing experiences and pooling resources within the practice team. It can be an expensive commitment to attend a course particularly if it involves taking time out of a working day.
As this concept is new to many DCPs - where will you start?
What is CPD?
It is study, training courses, reading and other activities that could reasonably be expected to advance your development as a dental professional
What do the GDC have planned for us?
In the first five-year cycle DCPs must carry out 150 hours of CPD in total. This will mean that all DCPs will have to achieve 150 hours of CPD over a five-year period to stay on the register. Of the 150 hours, at least 50 hours need to be verifiable CPD.
How can you make a start?
You may be thinking of demonstrating your commitment to CPD with the use of a Personal Development Plan (PDP).
Team members ask yourself the following questions:
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How will you plan this education?
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How will you fund it?
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How, when and where will you keep it up to date?
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How will you put an effective personal development plan together to demonstrate your commitment to lifelong learning?
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How can you identify your personal learning needs?
Look to us for the answers:
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We will show you how to put your PDP together to make sure it reflects your needs and those of your practice as a whole
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We will help you plan your learning around the evidence of the needs that arise from this document. It is essential that you and your patients benefit as much as possible from your CPD
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We will show you how to run a journal club in your practice to make the most of ‘in-practice’ learning opportunities
Your Personal Development Portfolio will be your evidence to your employer and the GDC that you are committed to lifelong learning.
JOIN ONE OF OUR PDP SESSIONS 
24th October 2008, 2.30 pm - 6.00 pm at Eastbourne Postgraduate Education Centre
6th March 2009, 1.30 pm - 5.00 pm at Tunbridge Wells Postgraduate Education Centre
What do we have available at KSS for Dental Nurses, Clinical Dental Technicians, Dental Technicians, and Hygienists and Therapists?