The best online CPD for nurses and midwives will be current and evidence based. Providers will know their audience and provide high quality information – references will be available. Content will be peer reviewed.
Healthcare is an evidence based discipline and providers should keep up with the current guidelines and trends in nursing and midwifery. Many midwifery and nursing providers pad their sites with lots of video lectures and freely available material such as Guidelines.
Lectures work for live audiences because they are current on the day they are delivered. When accessing video lecture content, midwives and nurses should exercise some caution and know how old the content being presented is. They should have a clear understanding of whether the content is still current.
The best online CPD for nurses and midwives will motivate the learner to reflect on their practice and how the learning can be translated into practice. Real life examples, case studies and practice tools, such as screening tools will be provided when relevant.
The best online CPD for nurses and midwives will provide activities to reinforce learning and learning objectives will be achieved. It will provide a variety of quizzes, interactive elements that reinforce learning as you go, relevant and usable practice tools, references and links to best practice guidelines.
A lot of so called ‘eLearning’ is really just the transfer of pre-existing material to online or the uploading of a recorded lecture. Great online nursing CPD offers interactive learning that engages the learner. Great eLearning providers will know their target audience and target their material directly to their learners.
Great online CPD for nurses and midwives will have clearly defined learning objectives, appropriate and engaging visuals, and learning activities that reinforce key messages.
When selecting online CPD, look for convenience – is it available when it is wanted, from the device of choice of the nurse or midwife?
Nurses and midwives are busy people – so being able to stop a learning activity and pick it up where it was left off is important. Look for this type of flexibility when selecting online nursing CPD.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia requires all registered practitioners to keep a record of their continuing professional development. Most online providers provide access to a record keeping tool such as an ePortfolio. Make sure the provider you select allows access free of charge – otherwise you may lose your records if you stop paying to use the provider’s CPD.
Features, such as tracking of CPD for the registration year, separate recording of midwifery and nursing CPD and separate recording of CPD requirements for endorsements are all great additional features. Another important feature is the ability to record your midwifery or nursing CPD done outside of the provider’s platform – the CPD you do at work, or when you go to a conference or when you provide CPD to colleagues. Having the one place to record all CPD activities will save hassles if audited. Make sure your CPD records can be downloaded anytime in case of audit or for your personal records.
Once you have answered all of the above, it is important to get value for money. Accessing online CPD for nurses and midwives provides a lot of advantages – one of them has to be a cost advantage.
Search the content library – does the CPD being offered represent value for money? Great online nursing and midwifery CPD will be competitively priced and offer all of the above. When searching does it look like the material has been specifically written for nurses or midwives or is it a lot of padding of information you will never need? Is it easy to navigate and can you find a variety of relevant CPD modules that suit your needs?
