1. Can UCL offer personalised CPD
Can UCL offer personalised CPD? One department’s experience of creating a graduate programme for busy healthcare professionals
Jeannette Murphy, Jackie Nicholls, Matthew Darlison & Lucy Ireland
UCL Centre for Health Informatics & Multiprofessional Education (CHIME)

2. Drivers for CPD for Healthcare Professionals External
Political imperatives
Professional imperatives
Organisational imperatives
Demographic changes
Public Health agenda
Estimated size of healthcare workforce: 1.4 million (2010)

3. Research: What Clinicians are Seeking
Source: RCN (Wales) and Open University
ƒShared & inter professional learning - promoting shared values &understandings
ƒƒAccess to blend of learning media
including face to face contact, distance learning and eLearning
ƒMenu of provision that could be mixed & matched & provided in ‘bite size chunks’

4. Clinician’s Perspective
‘Since I left Med School I’ve been committed to keeping up to speed and trying to be ‘where it’s at’ professionally but the difference now is that whereas I could just follow things that interested me now everything I do - especially if I want work to pay for it - has to have multiple paybacks in terms of time, energy, career development etc’

5. Justifications for a New Programme
UCL - many graduate level modules of potential interest to clinicians and health care managers
However, only available to students who register for that programme. Cannot mix and match.
Our experience
Growing number of students want to take generic modules from our Health Informatics programme without signing up for an award

6. Our Vision A flexible, personalised, individualised programme…
tailored to each student's professional needs
allowing students maximum choice and flexibility
offering a variety of awards
allowing a range of start dates
providing a wide variety of modules drawn from existing graduate programmes
​adding maximum value - academically, professionally and personally

7. Structure of HMS programme
Students develop own unique timetable with support from student advisor

8. Key Steps - Implementing the HMS Programme
Explored the market
Identified partners in UCL– 12 to date
Built website; Module Library a key component
Management: Created administrative procedures & routines
Designed online orientation & induction materials
Recruitment: Marketing, Advertising
Figuring out the market – meetings with ACME, discussions with students, research, focus group (RCN), competitor analysis
Finding partners – we trawled through existing graduate programmes to identify modules which might be suitable
Seeking modules which fit into three broad categories: Clinical Practice &  Patient Care, Professional Development, and Service Development.
Approached departments and initiated discussions – whether they would be willing to allow us to make modules available to students who registered on the HMS Programme
12 Partners to date: ACME, CHIME, ICH, Epidemiology & Public Health, Institute for Global Health, Cancer Institute, Institute for Women’s Health, Division of Infection & Immunity,  Primary Care & Population Health, Department of Infection & Population Health,  Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, Medical School

9. HMS Website – Web Content, and more…
Downloadable tools:
Module planner
Learning needs assessment tool
Module Library
Collected data from partners
Input to Excel/Word
Processed
Combined in Silva
Maximum links to provider departments
Currently 43 modules in the Module Library

10. Recruitment No budget to advertise the programme Used email lists
Print marketing - leaflet and flyer
Mail shot to NHS Trusts, Royal Colleges
Most find programme via UCL prospectus & FindaMasters
First year signed up 5 students

11. Obstacles Encountered
UCL processes not always flexible
e.g. admissions (norm is one entry per year)
Most programmes & modules assume (often implicitly) students study full-time (on campus)
Not many modules delivered in way which meets needs of working professionals (few delivered online)
Programme cost – deterrent for some
Prospectus – not easy to find CPD opportunities
Problems giving CPD students equal access to resources
e.g. Digital library resources

12. The Students’ Experience
Small cohort of experienced healthcare professionals with clinical and non-clinical background who share similar values:
Demand flexible learning opportunities to enable us to balance study with work and family commitments
Highly motivated to engage and learn
Access to modules to enhance our working practice and future career development
Supportive of each other’s learning
Keen to provide feedback on experiences to develop the programme so that it continues to meet our needs

13. Student feedback so far
What prompted professional development?
Employer supportive?
Why chose HMS?
Experience so far – meeting needs? Improvements?
In conclusion….
We hope this encourages the consideration of existing modules at UCL that may be included in this programme and/or the development of similar learning packages to a professional market.

14. Plans for Future Develop specialised awards
PG Cert HMS (Quality, Information & Safety)
Extend Module Library (from existing programmes)
Create new modules for HMS
Allow students enrol any time during the year

15. Lessons Learned: Advice to others developing short courses, CPD
Students prefer blended learning to complete distance learning but need to consider attendance requirements
Study leave: 1-3 day attendance equivalent to conference time therefore more negotiable
Weekly attendance not feasible
Supporting students and ensuring coherent student experience need lots of staff input
Effort needed to build and sustain student communities

16. Talk to us!
Perhaps you have modules which might be of interest to healthcare professionals
We are keen to find new partners & extend our module library

17. Thanks for Listening Jeannette Murphy, Programme Director
Jackie Nicholls, Programme Lead during the Development Phase
Matthew Darlison, Informatics/Webmaster