Exploring the new BSHAA website and membership area www.bshaa.com

Chris arrives at the new BSHAA website determined this year to plan and capture all his CPD activity more systematically. He is a little concerned about being selected for the HPC audit but fundamentally he want to demonstrate the commitment he has to his CPD not least so he can become a Felllow. Chris has entered his user name and password and is now in the Members area and recognises that the first thing he needs to do is to create a plan for his learning activities. He decides to create an overall plan and then use some of the template plans.

Chris decides that he needs to create a plan for his own learning activities. He has had a recent appraisal and knows some of the areas his employer wants him to focus on. Chris also recently read his company’s business plan and knows what are the key areas for 2011/12

Chris having set his overall objective now begins to search the BSHAA website for relevant courses and he notices that there is an study day at Mary Hare in Newbury where there is a focus on Hearing Benefit Outcome measures. He adds the event to his plan.

Chris notices that there a number of development plans that have already been prepared. One of them is about Outcome Measures Questionnaires so he adds this plan to his list of plans. Once there he decides to edit the plan and removes a couple of the activities and adds a new one about the study day.

In advance of the Study Day Chris notes that included in the Development Plan are some links to relevant literature. He selects the link and he is then able to see the relevant article on his computer.

Chris noted that there was an opportunity to create a CPD record about his reading about the subject. Indeed he was impressed that when he selected create CPD the page was already pre-populated with questions. However in this instance he decided to create a record about the overall event and its impact on his practice.

During the session Chris makes some notes about key learning points at the event that he adds to his CPD record. However he notes that the record may not be complete until he tries out some of the techniques in practice.

There are some of the information that Chris added There are some of the information that Chris added. Please note that he has demonstrated the impact on his practice by the use of attachments. The record can also be linked to other CPD plans and to the BSHAA learning outcomes

Chris is able to attach files in whatever format to supplement the CPD record in same way that you attach a document to an e-mail.

Chris is keen to become a Fellow and therefore points and therefore he is able to add the points awarded for each CPD event to his CPD record..

These points are then visible to him and also to BSHAA administrators who monitor membership grades. (nb this report will be displayed once issues around points for the transition year have been resolved.)

A few months pass and it is now 2012 and Chris receives a letter that indicates that he has been selected by the HPC who wish to audit his CPD. This does not cause any anxiety to Chris because he has already noted how the HPC tool allows him to create his report. He uses it systematically.

The key page is this one where Chris is able to choose the development plans and CPD evidence that best demonstrate his commitment to his professional practice and his development. He knows that the HPC needs to see between 3 to 5 examples of CPD activity and how this has impacted on his practice.

The Summary Work Record and Personal Statement is something that Chris has to create himself. It is his submission. However Standard 1 and 2 are met through selecting the examples from the CPD record. Similarly when completing the response to Standards 3 and 4 reference should be made back to the examples selected from the CPD record.

Chris discovered there was a sample completed HPC report in the Help section that he found to be helpful. However he also read the cautionary note that all submissions must be personalised to each registrant.

Once Chris has filled in the all boxes and selected his examples his HPC report is created for him. In this section Chris demonstrates how he has planned his Professional Development.

This section displays one of the CPD records that Chris has selected This section displays one of the CPD records that Chris has selected. The record includes the details of the learning activity and crucially his reflection on how the learning has impacted on his practice. All the attachments are also there to support the evidence that he has submitted.