What is Active Learning?

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 07:42

How many points do I need? Do I need hours or points? Where can I get points from?

There still seems to be some confusion for Nurses regarding Continuing Professional Development.  This is not surprising and you shouldn't feel alone if you are still unsure.  Until recently, professional development requirements for Nurses and Midwives were not nationally consistent and varied from state to state.

On the 1st of July 2010 Nursing and Midwifery became the 10th profession to be managed under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agencies (AHPRA) National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.  With this included a Nationally consistent set of requirements for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all Nurses and Midwives.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) works with AHPRA and amongst other things is responsible for the development of standards, codes and guidelines for the profession.  The requirements for your CPD can be found in the NMBA's Registration Standards.  In particular the Nursing and Midwifery Continuing Professional Development Registration Standard.

Hours, Points or Active Learning?

The Nursing and Midwifery CPD Registration Standard lists out your CPD requirements. Requirement 1, 2 and 4 provide us with some clear direction for CPD.

Requirement 1 and 2 state that Nurses on the nurses' register and Midwives on the midwives' register need to participate in at least 20 hours of CPD.  Requirement 4 further explains that one hour of active learning is equal to one hour of CPD and it is the Nurse or Midwives responsibility to calculate how many hours of active learning have taken place¹.  From this it becomes clear that the focus of CPD is Active Learning.  It also states that you are the one who needs to calculate how much active learning has been completed. 

So what is Active Learning?

Here is Q&A number 8 from the Continuing Professional Development FAQ for Nurses and Midwives.

Q - What does one hour of active learning mean?

A - Without wishing to limit the examples, active learning may include:

Without wishing to limit the examples, active learning may include:

• Reflecting on feedback, keeping a practice journal
• Acting as a preceptor/mentor/tutor
• Participating on accreditation, audit or quality improvement committees
• Undertaking supervised practice for skills development
• Participating in clinical audits, critical incident monitoring, case reviews and clinical meetings
• Participating in a professional reading and discussion group
• Developing skills in IT, numeracy, communications, improving own performance, problem solving and working with others
• Writing or reviewing educational materials, journal articles, books
• Active membership of professional groups and committees
• Reading professional journals or books
• Writing for publication
• Developing policy, protocols or guidelines
• Working with a mentor to improve practice
• Presenting at or attending workplace education, in- service sessions or skills workshops
• Undertaking undergraduate or postgraduate studies which are of relevance to the context of practice
• Presenting at or attending conferences, lectures, seminars or professional meetings
• Conducting or contributing to research
• Undertaking relevant online or distance education (ANMC, 2009)²

Useful Links

To save you searching the AHPRA site we have provided some useful links below.

NMBA - Registration Standards

NMBA - FAQ and Fact Sheets

AHPRA - website

NMBA - website

References:

1. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia - Continuing Professional Development Registration Standard (2012)

2. Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia - Continuing Professional Development FAQ for Nurses and Midwives