Revised CPD registration standard for all podiatrists and podiatric surgeons published today

30 Oct 2015

The Podiatry Board of Australia, which regulates Australia’s registered podiatrists and podiatric surgeons, has published the revised continuing professional development (CPD) registration standard which will come into effect on 1 December 2015.

To help the podiatry profession prepare for commencement, the revised standard is being published in advance.

The revised CPD registration standard will replace the current standard and will apply to all registered podiatrists and podiatric surgeons in Australia¹. Practitioners will need to meet the obligations of the revised standard by the next registration renewal period on 30 November 2016. The revised standard does not apply to the current cycle of renewals.

Revised registration standards

Revised guidelines

There have been minimal changes to the Board’s CPD standard. The number of hours of CPD that podiatrists and podiatric surgeons are required to undertake each year has not changed and the categories of CPD are largely the same.

The Board has maintained flexibility in the standard in that while CPD must be completed from at least two different categories, practitioners have flexibility with regards to what, when, where and how CPD activity may be undertaken. This can include attending podiatry conferences; undertaking online CPD activities; discussing case(s) with health sector peers; and self directed learning such as reviewing relevant research publications or journal articles.

The Board has introduced a requirement that a minimum of five hours of CPD must be in an interactive setting with other practitioners, which can include Skype or videoconferencing.

The Board has maintained the requirement for podiatrists to complete training that includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), management of anaphylaxis and use of an automated external defibrillator and for podiatric surgeons to complete training in advanced life support. However, the Board has expanded the approved training organisations that can deliver the training to include a hospital and/or health service.

The revised standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015 and was part of a scheduled review of standards. A public consultation was held as part of the review. National Boards today published consultation reports providing a summary of the consultation processes, rationale for any changes and proposed way forward, including areas where further work is planned. The submissions to the public consultation are published on the past consultations page.

The Board will be publishing a revised professional indemnity insurance (PII) arrangements standard soon, which will be in effect from early 2016.

In February 2016, the Board will be publishing a revised recency of practice registration standard. The revised standard will take effect on 1 December 2016 to allow registered podiatrists and podiatric surgeons sufficient time to become familiar with the requirements.

Additional resources

The following additional resources about the revised standards are available on the AHPRA website.

• letters of approval
• consultation reports:
  • Continuing professional development registration standard
  • Recency of practice registration standard
  • Professional indemnity insurance arrangements registration standard
• common FAQs and timetable for commencement

¹Except those with non-practising registration.