Personal Development Planning for Dental Care Professionals

Personal Development Planning for Dental Care Professionals

Name………………………………………………………….

GDC No………………………………………………………..

NHS Contract No……………………………………………

Start Date……………………………………………………..

Getting started

Working in dental practice, whilst often stimulating and enjoyable, is also very demanding. The busy dental care professional (the dental nurse) is required to carry out a wide range of tasks, from ensuring patients comfort and safety to sterilisation process and general upkeep, and there is ever increasing pressure to perform these to the highest standards! You would have made sure that you are registered with the GDC by now and you may find that you are struggling with all of the changes that are happening. You may be used to reflecting on what you have achieved already, in which case the process of personal development planning will be nothing really new to you (although you may not have documented it fully in the past). However, for many, the process of looking back and evaluating strengths and weaknesses is not something they may be particularly familiar with. This guide aims to take you through the process in a gentle but efficient manner. The ‘keep it simple’ principle applies throughout this process. So, have a go at filling in some of the boxes!

The Aim

Using a personal development plan (PDP) is simply a means of identifying your development needs and wants whilst devising the best way to satisfy these requirements. This process is part of Clinical Governance and it is a government requirement that all clinicians in the NHS have and use a PDP.

For a little input on a regular basis you will be able to identify areas of your professional life which need:

Consolidating
Updating
Revisiting
Stimulating with new ideas

It will allow you to:

Identify your real qualities
Identify clinical concerns
Prioritise your personal educational endeavours
Plan for the future

What to do first!

The first part of the PDP provides you with an opportunity to consider your ‘Professional Hotspots’. The questions should help you to identify both strengths and weaknesses. However, an important question to consider is:

I really think I am good at ……….. (e.g. my job as a whole, managing time?)

. How do I know?

This could equally well be turned around, as follows:

I don’t think I do …………. as well as I should. Am I really as bad as that?!

You may also wish to consider the following:

The results of any audits which have been carried out in your practice –did things go as well as you thought?
Any significant events in practice which have made an impact on your mind (and heart). These can be examples of when things go significantly right as well as significantly wrong, and can be clinical or non-clinical events. This is the process of Significant Event Analysis (SEA)

Turn now to the first form, ‘Professional Hotspots’ and take a few minutes to fill in the boxes. You may find it easier to do this away from the surgery in suitably comfortable surrounds. Liquid refreshment may help!

Professional Hotspots
Best / Most Rewarding / Reflected Your Skills
What are you most proud of?
Worst / Most Difficult / Most Frustrating
What was a struggle?
Achievements
What do you feel good about?
Concerns
What do you feel least able to change? What do you feel let you down?
What do I need to change?
Are the constraints environmental or are they knowledge or skill based?

What next?

Hopefully this process has helped you to evaluate where you are now in terms of your professional development. The next stage is to match what you already have with what you might feel are your needs. This section needs to be filled in with common sense. No-one has endless amounts of time available for personal development, so it is probably sensible now to estimate what you feel you are prepared to commit in terms of your personal resources.

At this point, remember the GDC requirements for Continuing Professional Development.

These can be integrated fully with any personal development time you set aside. They are as follows:

You must do 150 hours of CPD over each 5-year cycle
Of these, 50 hours must be verifiable CPD
The remainder can be general CPD

Verifiable – this is when there are as set f educational objectives to meet during the session/study day. You are given to opportunity to feedback using an evaluation tool, and you leave with an attendance certificate, on which you can reflect.

General or non-verifiable – this is more difficult to generate evidence for and often is reading a journal article or doing some –in-house training.

Now turn to the next form ‘Working with what I already have’ and have a go at completing the sections here. This is a slightly longer form and may take a little longer to complete.

Working with what I already have
What do I need?

The prompts are in italics!

Personal Resources

How much time do I want to give?

Hours per week, days per month or year? Will it be a set time?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What journals do I subscribe to / regularly have access to?

What associations / societies am I a member of?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Where do I go for my formal postgraduate/CPD education?

Where else would I be prepared to go? How do I check their programmes?

What other sources can I access to help me?

What facilities do I have? Can I research on the web at work or at home? Can someone help me with this? Do I really have to do this all myself? Can I get someone else to collect the information for me?

What rewards do I need to keep me going?

Do I need acknowledgement of my endeavours other than the Official Certificate? Will this mean enrolling on a programme in order to get a qualification? Will this help to ‘organise’ and discipline me?

Do I get supported in my workplace?

Do I have difficulties getting time out from work in order to attend courses/study days? Do I need to plan to evening courses?

......

Practice Resources

Does my employer have on-going in-house training?

......

Could I be supported in gaining another qualification to further my career?

e.g OHE, Radiography

......

Supporting Infrastructure

What access do I have to support?

How can my old dental school support me? BDA library? Eastman courses etc? Local postgraduate centre and libraries?

E-Learning

Where can I get help to allow me to use this medium, carry out reliable searches, participate in activities?

Postgraduate lectures

Am I prepared to travel around? How could I best make use of my local centre?

Distance learning

What have I done or thought of doing, using this medium?

Have I accessed services like this before? Would this help to organise my non-verifiable (general) learning?

Common interest groups – local groups wishing to further themselves in general areas

Are there any such groups in my locality? What would be the commitment? Would it help to keep me focused and increase my motivation?

Special interest groups – groups with specific and specialist interest

Do I have a particular interest or strength I wish to develop? Are there such groups in my locality? What would be the commitment?

Developing your plan

By now, you should have begun to get some idea of where you stand in terms of your personal and professional development. You should be ready to formulate some plans for educational activity which will help to move you forward. As you do that you will inevitably have to make a number of assumptions about that activity, be it a course or some other method. These assumptions will lead you to certain expectations. The next thing to do is to use the Record of Formal Educational Activity as a means of focusing your thoughts on the activity and the impact this has on your practice. Remember, this is meant to include distance (including E learning) and Computer Aided Learning as well as traditional postgraduate activities.

Ask yourself the following questions:

What am I expecting to change in myself as a result of attending / participating in this activity?
What do I think my knowledge is / my skills are? Am I expecting to learn a lot of new things or am I just intending to reassure myself that I am doing what I ought to be doing, knowing what I ought to know?
What questions do I want answered?

Aims:

What do I want to get out of it?

Achievement:

What would I recognise as being a successful achievement or outcome for this activity?

Often, the reality turns out to be different? Post-activity reflection will help you to decide whether the course had met your expectations and requirements.

Personal Development Log
ActivityDate
What Happened
Analysis and Reflection
Action Plan

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Priority Development Area / Timescale
(Target Date)
The Objective Area (How this might be developed) / Timescale
(Target Date)
Resources required (What is needed to for this development in terms of people, material, time, etc.)
Benefits to self and practice
Priority Development Area / Timescale
(Target Date)
The Objective Area (How this might be developed) / Timescale
(Target Date)
Resources required (What is needed to for this development in terms of people, material, time, etc.)
Benefits to self and practice

Useful further reading:

Personal Development Plans for Dentists. Amar Rughani with Chris Franklin and Stephen Dixon. 2003. Radcliffe Professional Development, Radcliffe Medical Press ( ISBN: 1 85775 917 6

This book provides an in depth analysis of personal development plans with particular reference to dentists. It contain s useful chapters on making a start with PDPs together with useful forms that can be copied and used in conjunction with these notes.

- this site contains some useful tips, although aimed at the medical professions.

Please print / photocopy as required