There is increasing political and consumer pressure on professions, which have a degree of monopoly of service, to ensure that their members are competent to practise. One means of maintaining competence is the requirement of professionals to undertake professional development activities throughout their practising careers. Options reviewed are: voluntary attendance at continuing education acti...

In an innovative group mentoring approach, four experienced midwives mentored four new graduates during their first year of practice. The new graduates were in practice as case-loading registered midwives having completed a three year Bachelor of Midwifery degree. Detailed data about the new graduates' concerns were collected throughout the year of the mentoring project. A range of practice are...

Chronic heart failure is common. Management is complex, and patients require regular professional monitoring and follow-up as well as support for self-care. There is good evidence for disease-management programmes through home or clinic visits,1 and such programmes are recommended in international guidelines.2 However, heart failure predominately affects the older people, and their limited mobi...

National and international standards for professional groups may become a dominant and governing force as internet-based professional training becomes universally accepted. Educators and trainers will be expected to demonstrate the relevancy of their programmes in the context of bodies of knowledge that have a wide acceptance. Universities will feel the pressure to meet or exceed the performanc...

Osteomalacia is a musculoskeletal condition that results in soft bones due to ineffective mineralisation. Nurses have a unique opportunity to improve awareness of osteomalacia and reduce its incidence through health education. Multidisciplinary management is important to minimise the effect of osteomalacia on activities of daily living and reduce the risk of fracture due to poor mineralisation ...

An essential component of professional development activities involves ongoing and systematic evaluation procedures. Few efforts have been made to evaluate the results of professional development beyond the brief responses requested at the conclusion of workshops which assess participant reaction to the session (see box). It is an especially critical time for the adult education field to emphas...

Continuing professional development (CPD), also known as continuing medical education, has been around since the earliest days of institutionalized medical instruction. After graduation from medical schools, physicians continued to learn by meeting with their peers. Hospital-based grand rounds, case discussions, and meetings to discuss published medical papers made up the bulk of the continuing...

Given that sport-for-development (SfD) requires the intentional use of sport as a tool to realize developmental goals in complex contexts, there is need for reflexive SfD coaches who can successfully contribute delivery programmes. In this study, we explore lived experiences selection programmes Flanders, Belgium. We look at their responsibilities, perceived competencies and conditions be place...

Teachers’ motivation to participate in professional learning is a significant factor explaining the effectiveness of continuous development programmes. The present study investigated how factors at teachers’ personal and school levels are related their activities. A questionnaire was completed by 472 Chinese teachers. Multivariate analysis revealed that several teacher level (teachers’ prior ex...