The college hopes the changes will make tracking CPD easier.

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has updated its 1CPD platform to help users track the number of CPD hours they have reflected on.

The platform’s homepage now shows two progress bars, one which tracks the amount of CPD hours undertaken and recorded, and one which records how many hours have been reflected on.

Once the required number of hours each year – 35 for veterinary surgeons and 15 for veterinary nurses – has been reached, a message will let the user know that they are CPD compliant.

The changes won’t have any impact on CPD activities which have already been recorded, as these will remain in the system.

Jenny Soreskog-Turp, RCVS lead for postgraduate education, said: “We hope that the changes to the 1CPD platform will allow people to track their CPD more easily. A key element in outcomes-focused CPD includes reflecting on what you have learned as this is known to have a positive impact on both personal professionalism and patient-health outcomes.

“It should be noted that any CPD you have already undertaken for this year but have not yet reflected on will still remain in the system. However, in order to be compliant for 2023, you must reflect on every CPD activity completed. If you have completed your hours but have not reflected, this will show as non-compliant.

“In order to make those hours count, you simply need to go back and add your reflections. This doesn’t have to be a long and onerous task – uploading audio notes, adding an attachment, or writing a few notes stating what you learnt and how you will use this newly acquired knowledge moving forward will all suffice.”

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