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.
Mandatory sessions
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.
Sometimes, training sessions that are funded centrally by an organisation are viewed differently from those in which the funding is managed by a local unit or the individual. Sadly, expectations regarding presentation and outcomes are often lower for centrally funded courses and poor presentations become accepted as the norm.
Clinical specialty development
While all areas of nursing are specialties in their own right, some require specialist skills and advanced knowledge. Traditionally, these include medically oriented areas such as intensive care, haemodialysis, oncology, theatre care, ophthalmics and similar.
More recently, advanced nursing practices such as non-medical prescribing and clinical assessment have been recognised. The funding for these course fees are usually managed by employers as these skills are seen to be important. If you wish to gain a place on a funded course, you need to undertake some research regarding which trusts specialise in the area you are interested in, and whether they support staff in terms of course fees and paid attendance. Do they have any vacancies and what sort of time scale and guarantees could they give you regarding support for the course?
If you work in a specialty and wish to undertake a specialist course, you need to discuss support with your line manger. Their decision often depends on: the CPD budget; difficulty or ease in recruiting and keeping experienced staff; your previous commitment to the specialty; and how many other staff are requesting similar funding. The manager's response is likely to be one or a combination of the following: we cannot support course fees or paid attendance; we can support fees but you need to undertake the course in your own time; or we will support you fully.
General development
A number of CPD areas fall outside the mandatory and specialist courses. These are generic areas that support nursing practice such as counselling, some master's degrees, law and management degrees, communication courses, research degrees and many more.
While these might be important areas for nursing development in general, they often have a low priority when budgets are limited and staffing is low, and staff find it harder to obtain financial support. Funding may still be available from your employers, but you will have to start by making a good business case for this. This will involve addressing the following points:
If your employers are unlikely to support your ongoing development, you will need to explore the charities associated with the specialty and see if they support nurses undertaking ongoing training. A number of charities do support such training and often advertise in nursing journals.
Securing funding for CPD is not easy and requires commitment, perseverance and carrying out of research and groundwork. While this may seem frustrating, it is time and effort well spent when you are investing time and money in your career.