2024 | Volume 25 | Issue 2
Author: Professor Chris Pyke, Chair, Professional Standards Committee
With the 2023 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) year coming to a close, the College is working to deliver activities and support to assist you in meeting your CPD requirements in 2024.
CPD Home
We are aware from the feedback we received from some members that there may be confusion in Australia around the introduction of ‘CPD Homes’. All Fellows of RACS (FRACS), Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMG) on a pathway to FRACS and active Surgical Education Trainees (SET) are automatically enrolled in the RACS CPD program.
As long as you continue to record your CPD activities with RACS, you are enrolled in a CPD home and do not need to take any further action. RACS provides a CPD program to other surgically affiliated practitioners (i.e., non-FRACS surgical assistants) and we have already welcomed more than 200 new participants into the program this year.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, while new requirements have been introduced, there has been no change to program participation.
Introducing Cultural safety, Addressing health inequity, Professionalism and Ethical practice (CAPE) CPD requirement
In 2024, all medical practitioners will be required to undertake activities aligning to Cultural Safety, Addressing Health Inequity, Professionalism and Ethical Practice (CAPE). These new requirements have been introduced by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa – Medical Council of New Zealand.
To comply with these new requirements, all participants in the RACS CPD Program must undertake at least one activity per annum in:
- Cultural safety
- Addressing health inequities
- Professionalism
- Ethical practice.
Compliance with this requirement will be monitored via the RACS surgical competencies:
- One (1) Activity - Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety Competency (C)
- One (1) Activity - Health Advocacy Competency (A)
- Two (2) Activities - Professionalism Competency (P and E).
Guidance on how to embed the program level requirements into CPD and everyday practice is outlined in Program Level Guidance for cultural safety, addressing health inequity, professionalism and ethical practice here.
Some examples of activities that could be logged with the CAPE standards are:
| Activity | Category | Competency |
|
1-hour online e-learning on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander care or Groundwork Te Tiriti online module |
Education |
Cultural Safety |
|
RACS CPD Activity - Human Factors: Patient centered care or RACS CPD Activity – Managing patient risk |
Education |
Addressing health inequity |
|
RStructured conversation with a peer or Training in Professional Skills (TIPS) Course |
Performance review |
Professionalism |
|
Microlearning – Informed consent or Microlearning Module: Open disclosure |
Education |
Ethical practice |
We are currently developing a list of learning resources that cover the CAPE Standards—a link to the cultural safety resource listing can be found here and curated activities for the other areas will be available shortly.
This is a unique opportunity to expand your learning and understanding of these important areas. We encourage you to explore opportunities that engage with this new requirement as soon as you can.
The CPD team is here to help you and are working hard to ensure a smooth integration of this new requirement.
If you have any queries or concerns, please email us on: cpd.college@surgeons.org
You can also call us on +61 3 9249 1282