Oral Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2016

Competence for All: Australianising Inter-professional Competency Based CPD in Diabetes (#43)

Therese Ms Fletcher 1 , Candice Ms Ward 2 , Katy Ms Davenport 2 , Paul Mr Smedley 3 , David Prof Simmons 1 4
  1. Macarthur Diabetes Service, Camden and campbelltown Hospital, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia
  2. Wolfson Diabetes & Endocrine Clinic , Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , Cambridge, United Kingdom
  3. HertsMedia, Ware Hertfordshire , United Kingdom
  4. School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia

Background

Development of professional competence is a lifelong learning endeavour. The United Kingdom’s national nursing, dietetic and podiatry competency frameworks in diabetes articulate the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes all healthcare professionals should have in order to provide quality care to people with diabetes. Endorsed by Diabetes UK and the British Dietetics Association, the Cambridge Diabetes Education Program (CDEP) is a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme developed by diabetes experts from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust . CDEP is underpinned by these inter-professional competency frameworks facilitating ongoing competency improvement in health professionals working with people with diabetes. CDEP is currently being adapted to the Australian context.

Aim

Accessible competency based diabetes CPD for all staff, leading to improvements in working with people with diabetes.

Method

This clinically focused online program enables the learner to work through a series of competencies defined by the UK inter-professional competency frameworks in diabetes. CDEP contains multiple choice questions, linkages to national learning resources, level progression through 100% mastery, and a portal for reflection and practice based feedback. The structured approach to development, testing and release has undergone 7 pilots. Topic-specific evaluation is undertaken prior to the provision of accredited certification.

Results

Twelve competency topics from the level of core to intermediate, most relevant to non-specialist diabetes staff, released so far, offering a total of 19.5 hours of diabetes CPD. To date 2339 learners have registered with 3443 certificates awarded. Improvements in competency (83.75%), confidence (80.5%) and familiarity with guidelines (81.3%) have been reported. Seventy one percent of registrants reported as non-diabetes specialists in their professional roles .

Conclusions

An online programme that defines knowledge aspects of competency is possible and is associated with learner perceptions of improved ability across different disciplines. Implementation of national diabetes frameworks is now systematically possible within Australia.