Pre chat information by Teresa Chinn MBE

Historically CPD is something that has always “happened” to us as healthcare professionals.  I recall as a newly qualified nurse we had training sessions on the ward I worked, where people came in to teach us about different areas or skills, we were also sent on training courses regularly and CPD was something that came to us from our employer.  Most of the CPD I did was passively sat in a classroom like environment, being talked at – CPD wasn’t something I had to actively do.  So perhaps this has something to do with the reason why so many of us are so fixed in our view of what counts as CPD in healthcare?

I have three problems with this idea of CPD:

Firstly – I am not so sure that sitting passively and being talked at in a classroom is really the best way to learn and develop.  I know that it’s certainly not the case with me – I need to actively discuss things, have the scope to read or find out more, explore ideas, try things out and actually “do” instead of just sit and take notes.  A few years ago I came across this on Twitter:

(Source: http://www.une.edu/studentlife/biddeford/las-1 )

I’m not sure if it’s steeped in any good quality evidence or research but it makes sense to me. I certainly know that passive learning is not for me, conversation, discussion, doing and showing seem to work much better. 

Secondly – There is no money… austerity reigns and classroom based CPD is expensive. Theres the cost of the venue, the speaker(s), the cost of lost work hours and also the cost of travel and expenses.  There has to be a smarter way that gathering people together at a venue … in fact we know there is, we just need to start using them.

Thirdly – We should take control of what we learn.  As a practicing nurse I have interests in social media, elderly care and dementia … learning IVI’s, TPA , BAL, HFEA or some other acronym is not really where i want to take my learning.  I was my CPD to be based around my needs.  I want to dictate when i do it, how I do it and what its on … its my learning after all.

How do we move with the times? How do we change our mindset regarding CPD – perhaps the answer is in developing . social mindset.  I really like this sketchnote by @tnvora that explores social mindset, in particular the social learning element:

Social learning is about taking our traditional idea of learning and giving it a good shake.  I love the term “working out loud” and I think that the potential to apply this is nursing is huge.  learning together, developing communities of practice and creating an ecosystem of learning when and where we want it is, in my opinion, a very attractive proposition.

Isn’t it time that we took hold of CPD and turned it on its head? Isn’t it time we took responsibility for it? Isn’t it time we took control of it?  Isn’t it time to stop being passive about our learning as healthcare professionals? I think that social learning and social media is the way forward – it’s time to step out of the classroom and into individualised lifelong social learning.

This #WeMDT discussion aims to explore the idea of using social media and "learning out loud" for professional development and to ask the following questions:

• Have you ever used social media for CPD?
• What are your thoughts about "learning out loud" and using social media for professional development?
• Why are people so fixed in their mindset re CPD .. how can we change this?
• What are the benefits of using social media for CPD?
• What are the limitations of using social media for CPD?
• What types of social media can we learn from?
• Do you have any good examples of professional development in social media spaces?

I look forward to starting the New Year with this great discussion and hearing all of your thoughts.