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Dental Nurse CPD

Since August 2008 Continuing professional development or CPD became compulsory for dental nurses. It is a legal requirement designed to keep skills and knowledge up to date for the benefit of patients. The General Dental Council (GDC) register qualified professionals. The GDC aim to protect patients, promote confidence in dental professionals and be at the forefront of healthcare regulation.

CPD facts for dental nurses:

Dental Nurse CPD includes the following:

  • Courses and lectures
  • Training days 
  • Peer Review
  • Clinical Audit
  • Reading Journals
  • Attending Conferences
  • E-Learning Activity

The CPD should advance ones professional development.

A minimum of 150 hours needs to be completed over a 5 year cycle (known as the CPD cycle). A minimum of 50 these must be verifiable CPD. A minimum of 100 of these must be non- verifiable CPD.

Your CPD record

You must keep a full record of all your CPD activity for five years after the end of your CPD cycle. For example, you may be selected for an audit and will be required to provide evidence to show the GDC that you have met our CPD requirements. 

Your CPD record must contain:

  • a description of each item of CPD completed and whether it is 
  • verifiable CPD; this should include the title, date and /or topic(s), 
  • venue and provider where applicable 
  • the number of CPD hours for each item; this should exclude breaks and
  • travel time 
  • documentary evidence of each item of verifiable CPD.

Verifiable CPD

Verifiable CPD is activity that meets our definition of CPD and for which there is documentary evidence that you have undertaken the CPD and that the CPD has:

  • concise educational aims and objectives; 
  • clear anticipated outcomes; and 
  • quality controls. 

This is set out in law.’¹

What is non- verifiable/ general CPD?

If the activity you are doing does not follow the guidelines for verifiable CPD but is still keeping your knowledge and skills up-to-date; it can count towards your non-verifiable record. General reading counts as non-verifiable CPD. The information on this site counts as non-verifiable CPD.  Click here to start learning now.

References:

 The General Dental Council: http://www.gdc-uk.org/Dentalprofessionals/CPD/Pages/default.aspx

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