For detailed information and resources relating to any of the three CPD categories and related activities, please click on the corresponding tile below.
CPD Category Links
| Maintenance of Contemporary Clinical Knowledge & Skills/Research, Learning & Teaching |
| A minimum of 12.5 hours must be completed during the 2024 program. |
Educational Activities incorporates the maintenance of knowledge and skills for obtaining information to make clinical decisions and treatment management plans, along with conducting procedures in a safe and ethical framework. It also addresses a commitment to research and/or learning, and/or teaching and provides a range of opportunities for practicing dermatologists to demonstrate their ongoing education.
Includes participation in structured learning, self-directed learning, education events, involvement in leadership roles and College activities.
The following table outlines high level sub-categories and activities you could participate in as part of your CPD cycle to meet requirements. A more comprehensive listing of activities is available in the CPD Program Definitions Guide.
| Sub-category | Activity | Documentation |
Online Discussion Groups | Reading (without commenting) online forums (College Dermo Group, Mohs Group), other online forums as approved. | Enter details online |
Professional Reading and Study | Formal/informal study, personal research, study and reading educational magazines (hardcopy or online), podcasts and webinars. | Enter on reading log and upload to portal |
Meetings and Conferences | Includes ASMs, AGMs, conferences, Clinical Meetings, Institute meetings, attending (not presenting) Grand Rounds, Symposia, Journal clubs and other meetings, courses or workshops related to your scope of practice. | Certificate of attendance or signed attendance record |
Supervising and Teaching | Teaching and supervising clinicians e.g. medical students and registrars, either by formal presentation, case discussion or by example, where this activity is by intention and outside of everyday clinical practice. Also includes teaching formal programs and College education programs. | Retain records of date, duration and notes. |
College Educational Materials | Prepare/develop/review/evaluate/mark exams, assessments, online modules, quizzes, A to Z of Skin, ACD Examiner, Exam Author, Assessor and Training Supervisor materials. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Upskilling | Including, but not limited to laser therapy, surgical procedures. | Retain documentation |
eLearning Portal Modules, Other Modules | Complete ACD online modules or modules from other sources such as medical indemnity groups. | Certificate of Completion |
Cultural Competency | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Culture Module, Intercultural Competency for Medical Specialists Module. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Workshops | The planning, implementation and post-workshop evaluation. The workshop has an educational focus and is relevant to your scope of practice. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Other | Other educational activities. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Key Resources
| Reviewing and reflecting on performance and work processes |
| A minimum of 5 hours must be completed during the 2024 program including a Professional Development Plan (minimum of 25 hours across categories 2 & 3) |
Activities that require feedback and reflection on your work. Feedback can come from a variety of sources, including peers, colleagues, patients and even yourself. These situations will provide you with information regarding your performance, either validating what you are already doing, or highlighting areas in which you may improve.
Includes measurement of outcomes of care, benchmarking of performance with peers and reflecting on
patient outcomes.
The following table outlines high level sub-categories and activities you could participate in as part of your CPD cycle to meet requirements. A more comprehensive listing of activities is available in the CPD Program Definitions Guide.
| Sub-category | Activity | Documentation |
Professional Development Plan (mandatory) | Complete one (1) Professional Development Plan. A projected yearly plan of your requirements for ongoing professional development, based on reflection of your current practice and educational needs. The PDP is an annual mandatory requirement for all ACD CPD Program participants. | Retain documentation – PDP template available below. |
Quality Assurance (QA) Management | Participate in QA meetings, peer training, clinical practice operations meetings, QA Committees, Clinical Governance. | Sign Clinical Practice Operations Meetings Record |
Committees | External committees, organising committees, ACD committees, working parties, project groups. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Clinical Review Meetings | Morbidity and mortality meetings, multidisciplinary team meetings, presenting at grand rounds, case review meetings. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Peer Review/ Feedback | Peer review, involvement in peer review group discussions, workplace performance appraisal, mentoring review, 360 degree multisource feedback, teaching reviews. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Contributing to Online Forums | Commenting on online forums such as Dermo, e.g. threads asking for advice or discussion on practice. | Contact College for deidentified documentation if audited. |
Medical Indemnity Groups | Attend medical indemnity meetings, workshops or webinars relating to performance review. | Certificate of Completion |
Health and Wellbeing Activities | Wellness/medical health questionnaires and activities/ webinars. Appropriate educational courses that support your health and wellbeing. See CPD Program Definitions document for key topic areas. | Certificate of Completion |
Performing a Procedure with a Peer | Reviewing and reflecting upon either current practice before operating with a colleague, or feedback and experience gained from operating time with a colleague. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Peer Review of Publications | • Journal articles, chapters or medical publications • Research • Curriculum or examination questions. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Satisfaction questionnaires | Practice visit patient satisfaction questionnaire, self-adapted satisfaction questionnaire. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
ACD Site Visits Feedback and Reflection | ACD practice visits, visiting Fellow performance feedback and reflection. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Self-evaluation and reflection for any activity | A process of exploring and examining ourselves and can help improve on future performance. | Complete the Self-evaluation and Reflection form |
Other | Other educational activities. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Key Resources
* Provided with the kind permission of Avant and RACGP
Practitioner Wellbeing Resources
Avant
* Available to all
* Available to Avant Members only
MDA National
* Available to all
* Available to MDA Members only
MIGA
* Available to MIGA Members only
These are accessible via the Education Portal REO
- Doctors Health Module
- Caring for our colleagues – workshop
- Rate your wellbeing – workshop
- Putting my health first – On Demand webinar
- Doctors’ Health assessment
| Measurement of outcomes of care, auditing and reflection |
| A minimum of 5 hours must be completed during the 2024 program (minimum of 25 hours across categories 2 & 3) |
Measuring outcomes involves measurement of health outcomes, such as an audit of your practice or management against standards or guidelines, such as incident reporting or reviews.
It includes reviewing and reflecting on actual work processes and can include feedback from peers, colleagues and patients.
A personal reflection on how an activity you have engaged in has contributed to your personal development
and improvement to your scope of practice can also be included in this category.
The following table outlines high level sub-categories and activities you could participate in as part of your CPD cycle to meet requirements. A more comprehensive listing of activities is available in the CPD Program Definitions Guide.
| Sub-category | Activity | Documentation |
Clinical Audit | Surgical Audit (Mohs), management of a specific clinical issue, monitoring adherence to standards/guidelines, pathology audit, group audits. | Retain completed audit document |
Non-Clinical Audit | Medicolegal reports, cultural safety, recommendations uptake, workplace assessment reports, supervision, record keeping, funding success, bullying/harassment, standards of confidentiality, data security etc. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Compare processes or health outcomes with best practice | Evaluate and improve the effectiveness of a process which contributes to the safety, effectiveness or efficiency of healthcare delivery. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Analysis of patient outcomes | An audit of a clinicians practice or aspects of practice against an agreed standard with the aim of ensuring practice meets defined standards or as a way of measuring improvements in practice outcomes as a result of practice change. | Retain completed audit document |
Registry Involvement | Reviewing entered data, benchmarking, and analysing registry data or evaluating one’s own data quality, documentation completeness, and patient outcomes. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Quality Improvement Project | Undertake a quality improvement project in your practice or place of work. A project that looks at health care standards within a hospital and/or private practice and aims to improve them. | Contact College for deidentified documentation if audited. |
Review of Medical Records | Medicolegal work (report, expert witness), Clinical case review and Root Cause Analysis (RCA). See CPD Program Definitions document for detailed descriptions. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Publishing | An article that has been through a rigorous peer review process. Including – publications, textbooks, chapters, journal articles, literature reviews e-learning activities. | Evidence of published article that references your you |
Clinical research projects | Principal investigator in a clinical research project including study design and patient selection. Including retrospective outcomes analysis, observational studies & clinical trials, including multi- centre and smaller local studies. | Copy of project brief that shows your name |
Research (other) | Research project involving analysis and reflection of outcomes, survey development including grant applications or a PhD. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
Presentations | Prepare and present presentation/poster, podcast or audio recording. | Retain documentation |
Resources based on review of data/ information | ACD practice visits, visiting Fellow performance feedback and reflection. | Retain documentation/ correspondence |
ACD Site Visits | ACD Accreditation visit report, ACD practice visits – visiting Fellow final written report including review. | Retain documentation |
Mohs | Completion of Mohs Micrographic Surgery course, Mohs Quality Assurance. | Retain documentation |
Other | Other outcome measuring activities | Retain documentation |
Key Resources
Non-approved Activities for Participants
College recognises that participants undertake professional development in a wide range of areas outside of the ACD Program.
Hours gained from activities from CPD programs of other recognised medical colleges/professional organisations or other professional bodies to which Fellows belong may be recognised by the ACD CPD program provided that:
- the activities are within relevant scope of practice
- the activities fall within the descriptors associated with the various ACD Categories
- clinical activities that fall within the descriptors of Category 1 of the CPD handbook are of a dermatological nature
- the participant provides College with supporting evidence
- professional activities undertaken in relation to an individual’s private practice can also be used for CPD.
When contemplating undertaking non-accredited activities, participants should consider the following factors to ensure it is a worthwhile experience.
| Relevance | Learning Aim and Outcome | Active Learning | Reinforcing Activity | Evaluation |
| Can you identify a knowledge or skills gap this activity will address? | Is the purpose of the activity clear and specific? | Will you be actively participating? Will there be opportunities for discussions, questions, case studies or polls? | Will there be an opportunity for reinforce what you have learnt such as a quiz, self-reflection tool or an action plan? | Is there a mechanism for feedback and evaluation at the conclusion of the activity? |
For information about completing non-accredited activities not specifically listed in the category descriptions above, please refer to the CPD Policy (Section 15 Choosing CPD Activities).
