Methods of Identifying CPD Needs

The clinician's own experiences in direct patient care

• Blind spots

• Clinically-generated unknowns

• Competence standards

• Diaries

• Difficulties arising in practice

• Innovations in practice

• Knowledgeable patients

• Mistakes

• Other disciplines

• Patients' complaints and feedback

• Post-mortems and the clinico-pathological conference (CPC)

• PUNs and DENs

• Reflection on practical experience

Interactions within the clinical team and department

• Clinical meetings: departmental and grand rounds
• Department business plan
• Department educational meetings
• External recruitment
• Junior staff
• Management roles
• Mentoring

Non-clinical activities

• Academic activities
• Conferences
• International visits
• Journal articles
• Medico-legal cases
• Press and media
• Professional conversations
• Research

Formal approaches to quality management and risk assessment

• Audit
• Morbidity patterns
• Patient adverse events
• Patient satisfaction surveys
• Risk assessment

Specific activities directed at needs assessment

• Critical incident surveys
• Gap analysis
• Objective tests of knowledge and skill
• Observation
• Revalidation systems
• Self-assessment
• Video assessment of performance

Peer review

• External peer review
• Informal peer review of the individual doctor
• Internal peer review
• Multidisciplinary peer review
• Physician assessment