CPD Points Guideline

Continuing professional development (CPD) involves not only educational activities to enhance medical competence in medical knowledge and skills, but also in administrative and managerial skills, team building abilities, leadership qualities, and communication and interpersonal skills, which are essential for evolving changes in the delivery of medical services.

CPD includes all activities that doctors undertake, formally and informally, in order to maintain, update, develop and enhance their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in response to the needs of their patients. CPD is inclusive of formal learning activities (e.g, attending seminars, lectures, courses, conferences, workshops) and informal learning relevant to the role and scope of practice (e.g, reflection on practice, reading journals, work-based learning, scholarly activities, journal clubs, self-directed learning).

The revised 2023 MMC-CPD Grading System aims to categorise CPD activities into 5 main domains. Doctors are encouraged to demonstrate a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice.

A. Formal educational activities

Formal educational activities include participation in activities to update knowledge and skills, such as attending lectures, seminars, scientific meetings, conferences and skills training.

B. Work-based learning

Work-based learning is professional development that takes place within the work environment in the medical practitioner’s current role. Work-based learning includes learning activities and development opportunities including such as journal club meetings, audit/morbidity/mortality meetings, interdepartmental meetings, grand ward rounds

C. Scholarly activities

Scholarly activity is work that enhances educational development and includes, discovery of new knowledge and technology, dissemination of knowledge, supervision of training and participation in assessments.

D. Self-directed learning

Self-directed learning takes place when the individual takes the initiative in diagnosing learning needs, formulating learning goals, designing learning experiences, identifying and using available resources, and evaluating learning outcomes. Self-directed learning includes, reading books, journals, and articles of a general nature, listening to podcasts and completing online learning modules.

E. Professional activities

Professional activities involve participation in activities that apply scientific expertise for the benefit of the wider community and activities that support professional development such as participating in the activities of a professional bodies, and learned societies, leadership role in medical societies/NGOs, serving in national, state and institutional level committees (Institutional level committees are committees that represent the institution at the hospital/university or faculty level). and participation in self-development programmes such as leadership, management, communication skills training programmes.