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Facilitator Handbook
Supporting Self Care
Contents
1. Recognising Continuous Professional Development |
2. Learning outcomes of CPD activity |
3. Structure and content of approved CPD |
4. Personal Development Review (PDR) |
5. Effective learning |
6. Problem-based workshops |
7. Your practice facilitator role |
8. University approval: work-based certification |
Appendix 1 Example personal development plan (PDP) |
Appendix 2 Recording template of progress route through problem-based learning discussion in your practice team |
Appendix 3 Role and responsibilities checklist |
1. Recognising Continuous Professional Development
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge and skill, and the development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional and technical duties throughout your working life. The definition was created by the Construction Industry Council in 1986 and has been adopted as a base definition of CPD by 55% of professional associations. It is just as relevant to the NHS as other sectors.
The Staffordshire University Continuous Professional Development programme has been designed to provide a flexible framework that will enable participants to receive accreditation for developing professional knowledge and skills in order to meet the growing imperative placed upon all practitioners to maintain professional competence. The process is overseen by the Academic Development Institute (ADI) which is represented by members of the four Faculties and relevant academic service departments.
Initially, the CPD programme in supporting self care has been launched with a series of targeted problem-based learning workshops that can be delivered as in-house learning sessions for primary care teams in general medical practices led by a University approved facilitator (see CPD participant handbook).
Additional guidance for facilitators is available on the Working in Partnership Programme (WiPP) website, www.wipp.nhs.uk, and includes: downloadable workshop details, tools, templates and PowerPoint presentations to support the delivery of the workshops, a Self care champion’s handbook with hints and tips on good practice in facilitating action learning sets and the reference text Chambers R, Wakley G, Blenkinsopp A. Supporting self care in primary care. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing; 2006.
Most participants of this framework will want to receive recognition of their participation in continuous professional development. A minority will want to register for an accredited University award at undergraduate level 3 or postgraduate level that earns them transferable credits for a Staffordshire University or other University degree. For all these options there must be a facilitator in the student’s workplace who organises the workshops upon which this CPD programme is based and links to the University to certify that submitted work is from a particular individual and in harmony with the practice development plan. A facilitator will enable all options from the workplace perspective.
Students can:
(a) Receive Staffordshire University certification of participation in CPD activity.
(b) Group a series of Byte size events to form up to 30 hours of learning (minimum 3 hours). Each 30 hour segment of learning will be formally approved and successful participants will receive Staffordshire University certification of approved continuous professional development (CPD) activity. An individual participant in the approved CPD programme must complete the training programme delivered by the NHS facilitator; then submit their completed workshop templates and draft PDP (their own PDP template or one adapted from University template) to the University for feedback and approval (see Appendices 1 and 2 in participant handbook).
(c) Register for the Staffordshire University Certificate of Credit in Supporting self care, which is recognised as a 15 credit module (offered at U/G level 3 and at M level). Successful students may be able to carry forward these credits to other undergraduate or postgraduate programmes by following the University’s Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning (AP(E)L) process - -depending upon specific award regulations. (This will include 15 hours of CPD activity, 135 hours of self managed independent study and completion of a 3500 word work based assessment.)
Individuals will take part in the 3 core workshops delivered in the practice, then decide to register as a student for the Staffordshire University Certificate of Credit in Supporting self care so long as it is within 6 months of completing certification of 9 hours of approved CPD.
2. Learning outcomes of CPD activity
The learning outcomes for your Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activity in Supporting self care are:
1. Understand the importance of personal and professional development in the context of the planning and delivery of self care support and promotion to patients and the public
2. Critically reflect on your learning, performance and behaviour in relation to self care interventions
3. Demonstrate an understanding of how to manage your role better in order to improve the quality of patient self care
4. Articulate the potential for development and transferability of personal and professional skills between various contexts such as key clinical fields and delivery mechanisms for self care support
3. Structure and content of approved CPD
This programme is an opportunity to engage in the Staffordshire University portfolio of approved CPD activities. The objectives of CPD are related to improving performance and the quality of patient self care, enhancing career prospects, increasing the capacity for learning, encouraging participation and commitment to lifelong learning and being adaptable to, and prepared for, change in the NHS.
The Structure has been designed to provide flexibility and allows the CPD programme to be tailored to both their practice organisation and their individual development needs as in Diagram 1.
Diagram 1 CPD Framework
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University
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4. Personal Development Review (PDR)
The PDR is part of the annual appraisal organised and undertaken in the NHS and an underpinning feature of the CPD programme. If the learner does not already have a Personal Development Plan (PDP) they can complete the one included in Appendix 1.
This is a specific opportunity to undertake a self- assessment to identify their development goals. These are not set in stone, but rather a basis on which to look for and take up relevant CPD activities from the approved University portfolio of Supporting self care modules or other resources. Whilst the CPD programme has been launched with a series of core training workshops in the workplace, they can extend the CPD activities to include a range of modes and materials available for development activity so long as they have a facilitator who has been approved by the University to deliver the Supporting self care programme. Whilst their CPD plan can be tailored to their own personal training and development needs it is also designed through the approved University portfolio to focus on the identified training and development needs for their practice organisation.
5. Effective learning
Problem-based learning workshops and subsequent learning and action, is a more creative and innovative approach to learning and CPD that acknowledges the broad base of acknowledged CPD activities within the NHS workplace and beyond.
The best and most cost-effective outcomes for patients in health care are achieved when everyone involved works together, learns together, engages in clinical audit of outcomes together, and generates innovation to ensure progress in practice and service. Primary care team working leads to better detection, treatment, follow-up and outcomes for patients.
As the facilitator you will work with your primary care team to solve problems and improve patient care. Look at problem issues around the management of patient care that have occurred in your own practice.
5.1 Problem based learning (PBL)
PBL encourages a move away from traditional didactic instruction to a more learner-centred approach to learning. It challenges you to develop the ability to think critically, analyse problems, and find the most appropriate learning resources yourselves. As well as helping to address important learning relating to your work, PBL helps you to learn how to learn. PBL conforms to many of the principles that characterise effective adult learning, in that it is:
- linked to day to day practice
- a group-based activity
- flexible, and ‘personalized’ to your own situation
- reinforces learning, through review
5.2 Range of formal and informal learning activities
These activities will include informal as well as formal types of learning:
- In-house learning programmes in practice workplaces focused on primary care topic areas
- The use of problem-orientated approaches to learning, including action team learning and self-managed learning
- Short topic based workshops
- Seminars
- Distance learning
- Problem based team learning
- Reflective learning
- Structured reading
- Shadowing relevant colleagues
- Observing colleagues
- Drawing up clinical protocols
- Undertaking clinical audits
Please see the associated topic workbooks for more information about ‘how to do it’ in relation to these forms of learning. If you feel that you have insufficient knowledge to guide you about the particular clinical fields, use the information in the patient pathways chapters and follow up the references if you need to learn more. You will have to discuss what type of informal approaches to learning such as shadowing and observing colleagues are feasible for your own or other learners’ situations with the GPs, practice manager etc.
5.3 Practice Team Learning Set
As a facilitator, you will be designing the programme for each action learning set meeting to match the needs and preferences of those attending. You will want to retain the members’ interest and be relevant to their learning needs so you have a good attendance for each of the three core action learning set meetings.
You will be able to gather ideas for the next meeting from the experiences of the team members carrying out tasks agreed at the last meeting.
During the action learning set meetings you will encourage group members to discuss what they have learnt about self care and how they are applying that to their own circumstances and practice. You will be discussing how your self care initiatives are progressing and their difficulties and issues. You will be sharing experiences and ideas with each other, and swapping best practice tips.
It will enable individual team members to write an action plan of at least 3 action points for specific tasks for them to put into practice after or as part of, the CPD programme workshop.
6. Problem-based Workshops
Integral to the CPD activity is the Supporting self care programme. Each of the 12 Topic based workshops has been approved as a CPD activity by the Faculty of Health and Sciences.
Each workshop has been designed to be practical and relevant to your work and the skills, knowledge and experience gained can be applied immediately back in your practice.
The 3 hour Topic based workshops for this programme are:
Core Workshop 1: Development of an action plan for supporting self care by patients Core Workshop 2: Implementing interventions to support self care as a practice team
Core Workshop 3: Establishing a self care culture as a practice team
Workshop 4: Pathway to self care : sore throat
Workshop 5: Pathway to self care : back pain
Workshop 6: Pathway to self care : cough and colds
Workshop 7: Pathway to self care : asthma
Workshop 8: Pathway to self care : otitis media
Workshop 9: Pathway to self care : rash
Workshop 10: Pathway to self care : raised blood pressure
Workshop 11: Pathway to self care : mild depression
Workshop 12: Communicating self care to patients effectively
Individuals are required to identify in their CPD plan up to 30 hours of appropriate CPD activity that meet their individual and practice development needs. They will have a choice of ten of the twelve modules given above.
All participants in the CPD programme must complete the 3 core workshops. Those wanting University certification of participation or certification of up to 30 hours approved CPD activity must submit their completed workshop templates (see Appendices 2 and 3) and draft PDP (their own template or one adapted from Appendix 1) via you as the facilitator, to the University for feedback and approval.
7. Your practice facilitator role
Local arrangements for the practice facilitator
Each facilitator may support practice team members participating in the CPD programme in Supporting self care. This support will include convening the practice based learning workshops, and being a contact to discuss subsequent actions relevant to the team member’s role and responsibilities. The facilitator will be in interim contact with the participant to check on progress.
Selection
Facilitators who are promoting a self care culture in a general practice team should be generally experienced in and work in the primary care setting - or have other equivalent relevant experience. They will usually be the lead for education in a GP team. They are able to demonstrate their standard of general knowledge and skills in relation to the promotion of best practice in the delivery of primary care. This will be at an organisational level and in applying and developing learning and practice with individuals in their practice team.
Facilitators should be familiar with the principles of, and committed to, promoting self care and the contents of the training programme about promoting self care (see website).
Facilitators will advise on the amount of preparation and work associated with learning about self care and carrying out the actions agreed by the practice team. They will help to motivate members of the team to progress smoothly through each stage in their action and learning plans to establish a culture of best practice in the promotion of self care in their workplaces.
What facilitators do:
All facilitators should be familiar with CPD programme run by Staffordshire University and the accompanying handbooks, and be able to answer simple and straightforward questions about the programme.
How your Team Learning Set will be organised in your practice workplace:
- You will set the date, time, organise the room and cajole key members of the team
into attending the Supporting self care workshops.
- Keep a register of attendance of members of the team at the workshops.
- You as facilitator will agree specific ground rules with your team (see Self care
champion’s handbbok on www.wipp.nhs.uk).
- You will organise the participants into small groups if more than 8 members joining
in the action learning set.
- Individuals will develop a Team Action Plan to assist in the improvement of patient
self care (and the work-based assignment if there are members who have
registered for the accredited Certificate of Credit in Supporting self care, with the
University).
- Help individual team members to recognise and address their learning needs in the
context of the practice.
- You as facilitator will encourage individual team members to complete their own
version of the action plan as it applies to them in their role (adapt record sheet in
Appendix 2)
- As facilitator you will act as link point with the University team, and it will be through
you that team members submit a record of their attendance at your practice based
workshop(s), completed action record sheets (as at Appendix 2), verification by you
that the individual has spent a minimum of three hours on the topic (consisting of
attendance and related CPD – see examples of acceptable CPD activities in section
5.2).
- Advise individual team members about whether the quality of the evidence submitted in their action records is of the required quality and has a strong chance of meeting with University approval.
Training of facilitators and approval process
The facilitator of problem-based learning for each primary care team who opt to organise their own in-house learning sessions in their practice workplaces, must attend and satisfactorily complete a Train the Trainer event at the University or submit acceptable evidence of competence (for example appropriate teaching qualification).
Be reviewed by peers and the workshop tutor when facilitating a group during one of these workshops and seem to be able to facilitate a primary care team.
Continue in role so long as ongoing evaluation by practice team members to University team remains supportive.
8. University approval: work- based certification
For a learner to earn the recognition of the University for their participation in CPD activities in relation to Supporting self care they will be required to:
a. Attend and participate in the core workshops in their practice
b. Reflect on their role and responsibility and how that interacts with colleagues in their practice team, and then complete the template in the relevant workbook for each main task to address the practice problem issues (see Appendix 2).
c. Develop their practice based action plan in respect of their role and responsibilities in relation to each topic of Supporting self care they include in their draft PDP.
d. Record their planned action on the appropriate template in the relevant workbook (see Appendix 3) and any preliminary action taken –within the three hours allotted to the byte sized learning event
e. Ask their facilitator to sign their approval that they attended the practice based workshop on a designated Supporting self care topic. The facilitator should also certify that the draft PDP and completed action plan has been prepared by them, relates to their role in the practice team and represents a total of at least three hours work on that topic, including time in attendance at problem-based workshop.
f. Submit the updated PDP and completed template forms (as in Appendices 2 and 3) to the award leader at Staffordshire University for brief feedback and approval that they have successfully completed the exercise for each Topic.
g. Submit feedback about the capability of the facilitator of their practice team and the quality of the problem based discussions at intervals in the process.
Reference 1.
General Practitioners Committee / The NHS Confederation. The New GMS Contract. British Medical Association, London, 2003.
Appendix 1
Example personal development plan
Participants are free to substitute their own template for a personal development plan (PDP) that is preferred in their own workplace or discipline, so long as it contains the minimum content and scope specified here.
Personal development plan Time span it relates to: Date last updated: |
Prioritised topics in PDP previous year:
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Justify why current topics in PDP are a priority: A personal or professional priority? A practice or team priority? A national priority?
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Who else will be included in your personal development plan?
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What baseline information will you collect and how? How will you identify learning needs?
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What are the learning needs for the practice or team and how do they match your needs?
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Any patient or public input to your personal development plan?
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Aims of your personal development plan arising from the preliminary data gathering exercise
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Action plan (give tasks, timetable, endpoints etc.)
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How does your personal development plan tie in with your other strategic plans (for example the practice’s business or development plan)?
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What additional resources will you require to execute your plan and from where do you hope to obtain them? (will you have to pay any course fees; will you be able to organise any protected time for learning in working hours?)
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How will you evaluate your personal development plan?
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How will you know when you have achieved your objectives? (how will you measure success?)
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How will you disseminate the learning from your plan to the rest of the practice team and
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How will you handle new learning requirements as they crop up?
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Appendix 2
Recording template of progress route through problem-based learning discussion in your practice team
Record your discussions, your action plan, your resource requirements and the outcomes that you expect – for your problem case. Think how you will collect evidence that demonstrates you have achieved what you have planned. Use the form below to record these aspects of your problem- based learning sessions, when you focus your session on your self care topic.
Your self care topic
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Your team includes:
Where you are now:
What you do next includes:
What extra resources might this require?
The outcomes might include:
How would you demonstrate that you have achieved your outcomes?
At subsequent date record your actions completed and outcomes achieved
Actions:
1.
2.
3.
Other:
Outcomes achieved (please list)
Appendix 3
Role and responsibilities checklist:
- List the tasks needed to be done to solve your problem issue in the left hand column
- Write the name /post of each member of the team participating in the top row
- For each task, tick the box for each team member who has a role or responsibility – and note their/your role and responsibilities for each task.
Completed by:
| Task | Primary care team members | What is your role and responsibilities? | ||||||
Task 2:
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Task 3:
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Task 4:
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Task 5:
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Task 6:
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Task 7:
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Date:
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