BDJ UCL Eastman CPD programme: an online survey.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain from participants of the BDJ UCL Eastman CPD programme its value to their professional endeavours, and in particular to determine whether they would object to making it more robust especially in the way that the CPD hours are achieved. DESIGN: An online questionnaire survey. METHOD: Participants were encouraged to complete an online survey of nine questions by 31 July 2012. RESULTS: Of the 3,292 participants who began the survey, it was completed by 3,070 (93.2%). Of those, 2,952 (91.1%) thought that additional learning tools would be helpful. The ability to resubmit incorrect answers was preferred by 2,549 (80.1%) of the respondents. Two thousand two hundred and fourteen participants (69.9%) raised no objection to making the scoring system more robust and 953 (30.1%) objections to this proposition were recorded. Ninety-eight percent (3,128) favoured the regular inclusion and flagging of core subjects and 95% of these respondents thought it would be useful to record these separately. The most preferred method of obtaining verifiable CPD was cited by 1,075 (39.5%) participants as reading journals followed by attending lectures and hands-on courses. The BDJ was the preferred journal to achieve both verifiable and general CPD. Most participants (1,930; 67.7%) use a home computer to take part in this initiative while a significant minority use tablets and smart-phones. CONCLUSION: This survey showed that the BDJ UCL Eastman CPD journal-based verifiable CPD programme remains a popular method of fulfilling the GDC regulations and that the majority of participants are in favour of making the process more rigorous.