What is a CPD Folder?
CPD stands for Continued Professional Development. A CPD folder demonstrates your ability to apply the knowledge and skills that you have acquired to your current practice.
What a CPD Folder is:
A small file, no bigger than A4 and thicker than the spine of the folder.
A documented history of the past 2 years of your career.
Evidence of your learning and experience relating to your current practice
Identification of areas for development
A plan of how you aim to improve
What a CPD Folder is not:
A place to dump stray pieces of paper
A giant folder so full it doesn’t close
Years of evidence with no logical order
To have a good CPD folder you need to be organised. Most of us tend to put it off until you have to update it for an interview or you are called up for the HCPC register.
But…
If you can be systematic and logical it can be a quick and relatively painless process to keep your CPD folder current and meaningful.
What is a CPD Folder?
1. Systematic
2. Evidence
3. Certificates
4. Thank you Cards and Emails
5. Demonstrating Development
1. Systematic
It doesn’t matter how you want to demonstrate your CPD as long as you have a system in place. It needs to have clearly identifiable sections, each page needs a clear title to explain what the evidence is you are presenting.
There are different ways of organising your CPD Folder. Two suggestions are either using a skills based approach or a 4 pillars of advanced practice approach.
Skills based would include separating your evidence out into teamwork, communication etc. A 4 pillars based approach would have a section for each of the 4 pillars of advanced practice: clinical, leadership, education and research.
2. Evidence
Evidence takes up the bulk of your folder. Each piece of evidence needs to be paired with a reflection and an action plan. For example if your evidence was a research paper review, you would include the research paper, a reflection on how you applied or chose not to apply the research into your practice and an action plan as a result of the experience.
For more ideas on what to include as CPD evidence, download my Free CPD Folder Checklist 👇👇👇
3. Certificates
We should celebrate our successes, this includes certificates. Your degree certificate should always be included but also courses you have attended. If all you have is the certificate you need to add some more evidence to explain what you learnt from the experience (See section 2: Evidence)
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4. Thank you Cards and Emails
Include any thank you cards or emails you have received from patients/clients or colleagues. It is so special when people take time to thank you for your work.
A CPD folder is a great place to keep them all together. You could hole punch a plastic buttoned folder to keep them all in.
5. Demonstrate Development
Overall the CPD folder should tell a story of your development journey. It should show where you were, including your struggles, what you have learnt, your achievements as a result of your learning and finally how you plan to improve your skills further.
An added bonus to a great CPD folder is that it makes interview preparation so much easier.
Make sure you download your free CPD Folder checklist to get a headstart on your preparation.
BBQ’s - Bek’s Big Questions
❓What are your top tips for creating your CPD folder?
Comment below 👇👇👇
About the Blogger:
Hi, I’m Rebekah.
I’m a Physiotherapist with a passion to support others to get to where they want to be. I love to organise and plan which, comes in handy for my mission to empower others to achieve their Physiotherapy career goals.
