Continuing Professional Development

Revised September 2021

Position Statement

Summary

Ausmed Education has been a provider of continuing professional development (CPD) for health professionals for over 30 years. Our core principle is that education is the means to continuously improve the health of the community and contributes to person-centred quality care and service.

The purpose of this position statement is to communicate Ausmed’s values on CPD.

Ausmed Education’s position on continuing professional development.

1. CPD is the means by which health professionals maintain, improve and broaden their knowledge, expertise and competence, and develop the personal and professional qualities required throughout their professional lives.
2. CPD is a lifelong process for all health professionals and is essential to the provision of safe and effective healthcare as well as meeting community expectations.
3. Health professionals are individually accountable for their practice and responsible for their own learning. To ensure best patient care, their knowledge and skills must remain current and relevant to the evidence and service changes that frequently occur in the provision of healthcare.
4. Organisations have a responsibility to ensure staff have access to high-quality training and education (which may contribute to their required CPD requirements) to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to practice safely, effectively and contribute to person-centred quality care provided.
5. CPD is more than learning. It is an important component of career development, advancement and interprofessional collaborative practice.
6. Whilst engaging in formal CPD is a requirement for registered health professionals, Ausmed acknowledges the importance of ongoing education and lifelong learning for all members of the health, community and aged care workforce.

In support of its position, Ausmed Education:

1. Works within a continuous improvement environment to provide engaging and relevant learning experiences for nurses, midwives and other health professionals seeking educational opportunities that support their professional development.
2. Develops its educational activities within an internationally recognised standards framework for CPD that is designed to ensure planning, implementation and evaluation according to best-practice educational principles; and, provide substantive and accessible professional learning experiences.
3. Continues to use advances in technology and research to improve the learning environment to meet expectations about the level of integrity and quality of its education programs.
4. Is committed to engaging leading interprofessional subject matter experts to contribute to the development of rigorous, engaging and diverse educational content for health practitioners.

References:

Paramedicine Board of Australia (2018). Registration standard: Continuing professional development. Retrieved from https://www.paramedicineboard.gov.au/Professional-standards/Registration-standards.asp.

Nursing Board of Australia (2016). Registration standard: Continuing professional development. Retrieved from https://www.paramedicineboard.gov.au/Professional-standards/Registration-standards.asp.

American Nurses Credentialing Centre (2015) 2015 Primary Accreditation Provider Application Manual. 2015 ed. Maryland, American Nurses Association.

Ausmed Education Pty Ltd 2020