From staff nurse to nurse consultant: Continuing professional development part 9: support and finance

Continuing professional development (CPD) involves an investment of time, commitment and finance by both the individual nurse and the employing authority. Over the 40 years that I have been involved in nursing and nurse education, I have seen considerable variations in how and who makes the various investments.

Even today, there are differences in opportunities, depending on where people live, nursing specialty, whether staff are employed by the NHS or an independent organisation and what—if any—charitable foundations are involved in their area of clinical practice.

There are compulsory areas of CPD that have been identified by employers as essential; these will be funded by employing organisations and staff will normally be paid to attend study days or undertake sessions online.

The enthusiasm and energy with which the staff attend and participate in mandatory training will vary depending on the quality of the presentations and the motivation of those attending. Some people say they feel forced to attend mandatory sessions that are poorly presented and feel their time could be better spent on their normal clinical work. If you are a manager responsible for commissioning and coordinating these sessions, you need to make sure the training actually delivers a high-quality learning experience with meaningful outcomes; this may mean auditing the sessions, motivating staff to appreciate the importance of the training and helping them transfer principles into their professional work.