Activity submission and administration requirements
In addition to the CPD Activity Standards and the conditions described in the Provider Agreement, all providers must meet the administration requirements of the CPD Program.
Activity application and activity number
An activity number will be allocated once a draft application is saved on the dashboard by the CPD Representative. This number uniquely identifies the activity on the RACGP’s database and helps to ensure GPs who participate in the activity are allocated the correct amount of CPD hours in the correct triennium. The activity number should be quoted on all correspondence related to the activity including the statement of attendance.
Sponsorship
Educational material covered within each CPD activity must meet acceptable clinical and ethical standards and not affect, breach, distort or influence the GP–patient relationship.
Partnership
Partnership exists when two (or more) organisations share in the responsibilities, risks and outcomes of a business arrangement. Working together and sharing information are key components of a partnership and are determined on a case-by-case basis. If each of the organisations involved in the partnership are RACGP CPD Providers, only one of the organisations will submit the activity application.
RACGP recognises the CPD Provider who submits the activity as the primary contact and all other parties are either sponsors or partners for that activity.
For RACGP CPD activities, this means that there may be sharing of content development/delivery/review, it may be co-badged as a joint event, and even registration/evaluation data can be shared. Partnership contract differences can be at the level of education input, access to registration details, sharing of administration responsibilities and income/expenses from the activity running. The specifics of a partnership need to be agreed upon and confirmed in writing prior to activities occurring. Partners must be clearly identified in all aspects of the activity promotion.
Appendix 6 defines sponsorship and partnership in detail.
Submitting an activity for approval
The CPD Representative must submit all new applications at least six weeks prior to the CPD activity being advertised or conducted. The time from submission to approval should not exceed six weeks, but this may vary depending upon the quality of the submission and any subsequent resubmissions. A CPD Representative has an opportunity to resubmit an activity application to address any changes required to meet the CPD Activity Standards as per the adjudication report provided by the CPD Program Coordinator. Failure to meet the CPD Activity Standards on the second submission will mean the activity is not approved.
Non-approval of a CPD activity
When an activity application fails to meet the CPD Activity Standards on its second submission, the CPD Program Coordinator informs the CPD Representative that the CPD activity application has not been approved. The CPD Representative is required to wait for three months to resubmit the activity application, ensuring it meets the CPD Activity Standards as per the adjudication report provided by the CPD Program Coordinator.
The three-month gap provides ample opportunity for the CPD Representative to redesign the CPD activity application and reflect on the changes required to meet the CPD Activity Standards. This also mitigates a possible bottleneck with multiple and unlimited activity resubmissions.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
CPR is a mandatory requirement of the CPD Program for GPs and must meet:
Learning outcomes for CPR training must include:
- respond to an emergency situation
- perform CPR procedures
- communicate details of the incident
- review the incident.
CPR activities must be approved by the RACGP and cannot be self-approved by a provider.
Activity event information
All providers will be required to give the RACGP information about an activity event each time an activity is delivered to GPs. Specific information about the event must be provided each time an activity application is submitted online.
Many CPD Program activities are rolled out across Australia and are delivered to GPs multiple times, at different venues and on numerous dates. Event data will be used for CPD Program evaluation purposes and to keep the RACGP informed about the nature of CPD Program activities being delivered at any given time.
All activities in the 2023–25 triennium will be advertised through the ‘Browse’ function on the GP’s myCPD dashboard. Providers will have the opportunity to specify GP participation/attendance criteria (for example, GPs only, GP participation by invitation only).
Statement of attendance or completion for GPs
Providers must give each GP a record of their participation in the activity within one month of the activity’s completion. It is important that individual GPs receive a record of their participation in case discrepancies occur regarding their RACGP CPD record.
The statement of attendance or completion must include the:
- GP’s name and RACGP member number
- activity ID number
- activity title
- date of the activity or of its completion if over a period of time
- number of CPD hours allocated to the activity and the type of activity (reviewing performance, measuring outcomes or educational activities). Providers must also indicate whether the activity has been approved for CPD hours in a specific interest area, or is eligible for rural procedural grants.
- provider details including logo.
The prescribed statement of attendance or completion is included in Appendix 8: CPD statement of attendance or completion template. The statement of attendance is the only document that may include the RACGP CPD logo. Any other post-course documents issued by the provider (such as a certificate or a diploma) must not include the RACGP logo.
RACGP GP feedback form
The RACGP values GPs’ feedback regarding the quality and conduct of CPD activities. GPs are encouraged to report any concerns they may have, by providing confidential feedback through the GP feedback form. This is available for download under the Resources tab of the CPD Provider and CPD Representative dashboard (Appendix 10).
Providers must advise participants about the GP feedback form prior to the start of the activity in the event that a GP wishes to report any aspect of the activity to the RACGP.
Evaluation of an activity
Following each activity, the provider must distribute an evaluation form to all participants. The following four questions are mandatory, however providers can include other questions to assist them with quality improvement of the activity:
- Please rate to what degree the learning outcomes of the program were met
(not met, partially met, entirely met)
- Please rate to what degree this CPD activity met your expectation about: content, delivery, for live – presenters/facilitators or for eLearning – Learning Management Systems (not met, partially met, entirely met)
- Would you likely recommend this CPD activity to a colleague? (Yes/No, Why? Free text response box)
- Would you likely change anything in your practice as a result of this CPD activity? (Yes/No, Why? Free text response box)
The provider must retain evidence of an internal evaluation strategy outlining a detailed process for quality review and improvement of the activity for future implementation.
Refer to Appendix 7: Evaluation template for further information and template download.
Activity report
Information from your evaluation forms part of your formal activity report (Table 4) and ongoing quality assurance assessment process.
The report also gives the provider opportunity to reflect on and record the effectiveness of their activities. Providers can record future recommendations and improvements and make a summative comment regarding the outcome of the activity. This data can be for the provider’s use and support ongoing activity quality improvement.
Table 4. Activity report submission
| Type of activity |
When to submit the activity report |
| One-off |
Within one month of running the activity |
| Repeated |
Quarterly |
| Continuous (for example, eLearning, practice audit, clinical audit, general practice research, provider-led supervised clinical attachment) |
Upon completion or, where running over triennium, to be submitted twice yearly |
Uploading GP attendance online
An attendance list of all GPs who completed the activity must be submitted online to the RACGP CPD dashboard within one month of the activity being completed.
It is the provider’s responsibility to ensure the correct RACGP member number for each GP is included on the attendance list. GPs who do not receive their CPD hours will be referred back to the relevant provider for advice. The online attendance upload facility will not accept attendance lists that are not formatted correctly and that do not provide sufficient details. If there are any errors, the provider will see an error warning on the upload page within the dashboard.