With online registration renewals now open, it’s time to think about your Continuing Professional Development! Not to worry, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation are here to help!
Nurses and midwives may feel daunted at the prospect of trying to squeeze another layer of work into their busy lives, but don’t worry. Fulfilling your CPD requirements is a lot easier than you think!
CPD is about developing and maintaining your professional skills. This can be carried out in a number of ways, including attendance at conferences such as the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Assocation (NSWNMA) Professional Day, online self-directed learning tutorials, reading journal articles or attending workshops or seminars such as those held by the NSWNMA.
How do you go about doing your CPD?
Look at your learning needs. Work out a learning plan, how you are going to address your needs. After completing your CPD activities, you then have to reflect on what you’ve learned – so how it affected and improved your work and what you will incorporate into your practice.
ANMF online tutorials
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has a number of online tutorials, which NSWNMA members have access to at a discounted price. You also have access to a free online professional portfolio where all CPD – whether it is completed with the ANMF or outside – can be logged.
The tutorials range from wound care and asthma management to palliative care and emergency drugs, in addition to mandatory topics such as manual handling and advanced life support update.
As well as being cost-effective, the ANMF tutorials offer the convenience of completing CPD requirements at times that suit busy nurses and midwives. Once you have purchased a tutorial, you have access to it for 12 months, meaning it can be used as a reference tool in the workplace for that period. You have three attempts at the assessment section in order to achieve the highest mark. The ANMF is continually adding new modules. Modules are available here.
NSWNMA seminars
If you prefer hands-on, face-to-face teaching, the NSWNMA runs a number of workshops and seminars each month. These include basic foot care, legal and professional issues for nurses and midwives, and forums for nursing specialities such as mental health, aged care or Nurse Practitioners. Check out the NSWNMA website for more details.