Regaining control of CPD documentation

Keeping large amounts of information organised has always been a challenge. A significant number of doctors describe to us how they are struggling even more in recent years.  The amount of documentation to be maintained has increased with the statutory requirement of annual appraisal. This has coincided with a major shift from physical paper toward the digital world. At the start of 2017 we became part of this change, supplying our CPD certificates as PDF download rather than on card. We did so as a majority of doctors expressed this as their preference, helping with management of the e-portfolio. There’s also the benefit that any certificate you receive after attending an Oxford Medical Training course is always available via your My Account section of our website.

Unfortunately the move to digital is not consistent across all CPD providers. You will probably be accumulating in excess of 50 hours of learning in a year. You will be picking up certificates here, there and everywhere. You will also be making your own notes, recording your reflections and key learning points. Along the way are accumulating a large quantity of evidence. This can easily get out of hand. It has become common for doctors to have a mish-mash of documentation: some on paper, some in the virtual world; some here, some there…and some, quite frankly, who knows where. Preparation for an appraisal can therefore become an awkward, time consuming, frustrating and stressful task.

Thankfully, although technology can be seen to have compounded the issue, it can also be used to make it much easier.  You can easily find a myriad of apps to help you with anything these days. There are apps for everything from to-do lists through to tracking how far you have walked during your shift today. However, it can be hard to now which offer genuine benefit and which are simply gimmicks or full of glitches.

We’ve found Digitalis CPD which is a free smartphone app for Apple and Android devices. It allows you to keep a record of your learning wherever you are. It makes good use of the device that is always with you – your phone. You can take pictures, videos, voice memos or attach PDFs. In addition you can write your full CPD record there. You can either do this by writing your notes in full or by making brief initial notes which you return to when you have more time.

And there’s more. Digitalis allows you to create a digital network with your colleagues. So you can communicate with them via in-app messaging and through open or closed groups which you can set up yourself. Another useful feature is that it provides you with a feed of learning suggestions from medical news and journals and shared learning from your colleagues. All of these items are based on your interests and learning needs and can be added to your learning log with one tap. You can find out more via the links below:
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/digitalis/id872456066?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitalistechnology.cpdapp