Occupational Therapy News OTnews January 2019 | Page 30

FEATURE CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A lifelong journey
T
Sarah Lawson and Deb Hearle update on their work
around continuing professional development
here is much written and researched about
various aspects of continuing professional
development (CPD) and the need for us,
as registered professionals, to engage in
CPD.
Research often studies different types of mainly
formal CPD activities and the barriers and enablers
to engaging in CPD, but there appears to be little
research to guide individuals on the ‘how to do’ CPD.
Our work is based on the understanding that
CPD is a personal and subjective journey, as well
as our professional responsibility and a mandatory
requirement.
In order to be effective we need to ‘Tell’ others,
‘Record’ and ‘Apply’ what we have learnt through our
CPD activities, ‘Monitor’ our progress and ‘measure’
the impact.
The TRAMm (Tell, Record, Apply, Monitor and
measure) model, and its tools the TRAMm Tracker ​
and TRAMm Trail, collectively known as TRAMmCPD
(Hearle et al 2016), provide a framework to facilitate
our journey through CPD.
We have previously written about the early
development (Morris et al 2011) and pilot study of the
TRAMm Model (Lawson et al 2014), and currently
both Sarah and Deb are undertaking doctoral
research to begin to establish underpinning evidence
for TRAMmCPD.
Sarah presented the initial findings of her literature
review Occupational therapists understanding of and
engagement in continuing professional development:
A literature review at RCOT’s
annual conference and
exhibition in Belfast in
2018 (session 53.1).
The findings from
our research are
leading to ongoing
updates to the TRAMm
Model; TRAMm
Station A, which was
previously ‘Activity’
will now be ‘Apply’.
While the application
of learning in practice
© GettyImages/Color_life
30 OTnews January 2019
has always been implicit within the TRAMm Model,
the literature indicates that the application of learning
in practice is a key element that needs to be more
explicit within the model.
For the Health and Care Professions Council
(HCPC 2017) any activity from which we learn
and develop has the potential to be CPD; it is the
application in practice to benefit ourselves, our service
users, teams and organisations that is fundamental to
our CPD.
Application of learning in practice
The overarching aim of mandatory CPD is to ensure
the safety of the public through the application in
practice of new knowledge, updated skills and
evidence-based practice.
While we may report feelings of increased
confidence following training, there may be limited
change in practice with a lack of evidence that CPD
results in improved competence and practice.
Some managers also report that a lack of evidence
of application in practice can be barrier for them to
support workers to engage in CPD when they perceive
the service sees little benefit of the investment.
Learning with others
In 2017, HCPC updated the guidance Continuing
professional development and your registration (HCPC
2017) to include the importance of interactive learning
as a means of encouraging self-reflection, however
learning with others may have additional benefits.
TRAMm Station T (‘Tell’) along with our research
into CPD engagement (Hearle and Lawson 2016)
includes the importance of sharing plans and
disseminating learning with others.
The research indicates there may be significant
benefits to CPD of learning communities, which might
include communities of practice (both formal and
informal), co-location with colleagues and professional
socialisation, whether face to face or virtual, which
can encourage awareness of, engagement in, and the
application of learning in practice.
Learning linked to the appraisal process
One of the recommendations from recent research