Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for the 2023–2025 triennium

Annual CPD Requirements (Each Year: 2023, 2024, 2025)

Each calendar year, GPs are required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of CPD activities, distributed as follows:

• Educational Activities: At least 12.5 hours focusing on expanding general practice knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the GP’s scope of practice.
  • Attending medical conferences or RACGP webinars.
  • Completing RACGP or external online modules (e.g., gplearning).
  • Reading journal articles or clinical guidelines (with reflection).
  • University-accredited postgraduate study.
  • Face-to-face workshops (e.g., dermatology, diabetes, ECG interpretation).
  • Learning new procedures (e.g., IUD insertion training).
• Reviewing Performance: A minimum of 5 hours involving reflection on feedback about a GP’s work.
  • Peer group case discussion (e.g., small group learning).
  • Practice peer review (clinical audit of patient notes).
  • 360° multisource feedback or colleague/patient feedback tools.
  • Recorded consultation review with peer feedback.
  • Supervisor report review (for GPs-in-training or supervisors).
  • Critical incident analysis (morbidity/mortality review).
• Measuring Outcomes: At least 5 hours using a GP’s work data to ensure quality results.
  • Clinical audits (e.g., reviewing diabetes HbA1c targets or antibiotic prescribing).
  • PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycles for quality improvement.
  • Reviewing hospital readmission or preventable admission rates.
  • Outcomes monitoring after starting new care models (e.g. nurse-led chronic disease reviews).
  • Using screening program data (e.g., cervical screening coverage in your practice).
• Combined Reviewing Performance and/or Measuring Outcomes: An additional 15 hours, which can be a mix of the two activities above.
• Any CPD Activity Type: The remaining 12.5 hours can be allocated to any of the above categories, providing flexibility based on individual learning needs.
  • More educational modules if revising for exams.
  • Extra audits if addressing quality concerns.
  • Attending additional peer-review sessions.

Triennium-Specific Requirement (Once During 2023–2025)

In addition to the annual requirements, there is a triennium-specific obligation:

• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Training:
  • GPs must complete a CPR course (e.g., HLTAID009 Provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) at least once during the 2023–2025 triennium.
  • The RACGP also accepts Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) courses that include CPR and meet the Australian Resuscitation Council guidelines.

Professional Development Plan (PDP)

• Annually, GPs are required to develop a Professional Development Plan (PDP) to identify learning goals and plan CPD activities accordingly.
• The RACGP provides a tool on the myCPD Dashboard to facilitate this process.

Evidence and Record-Keeping

• GPs must retain evidence of their CPD activities for three years.
• The RACGP’s myCPD platform allows for easy logging and storage of CPD activities and associated evidence.

https://www.racgp.org.au/education/professional-development/cpd/2023-triennium