Following the Chief Medical Officer’s implementation of Professional Development Plans in the UK, Ramsay and colleagues (2003) interviewed several general Practitioners (GPs), in order to ascertain the benefits and difficulties associated with implementing the Professional Development Plans (PDPs).
The PDPs were proposed by the Chief Medical Officer in order to improve the educational process through which General Practitioners develop their skills and healthcare services. Moreover, the PDP encompasses personal growth and learning.
Among the most important factors needed in order to better implement PDPs, the authors note the significance of ownership through external leadership and facilitation, the implementation of a sustainable contractual framework that will allow clinical governance and share common aims with GPs such as improving patient care. Additional factors mentioned included a minimal amount of paperwork, structured or clear learning needs and a clear idea of target audiences and evaluation standards. The study set out to assess whether these factors are indeed present and whether there are other factors that can contribute to or impede GPs PDP implementation.
The study was based on a qualitative approach in which fourteen General practitioners were interviewed in the UK, using a semi-structured open question interview. The interview focused on the issues raised during the implementation of such PDPs.
Among the external factors assisting in undertaking the development plan, the authors noted revalidation, as it was the most significant external process prompting their practice to implement the PDPs. In addition, the authors noted the change from General Medical Services to Personal Medical Services, seeing as the PMS has similar requirements to the PDPs. Therefore, by undertaking the changes necessary in the PMS, practices have prepared the ground for implementing PDPs as well. An additional factor raised during the study was practice locality, as the increasing collaboration between small and large practices uses the PDP implementation as a mutual language through which they can extend their collaboration, as well as guidelines and workshops provided to facilitate the PDP.
Among the internal factors assisting in the undertaking of the development plan, interviewees mentioned the existence of a change leader or facilitator within the practice, undertaking the task of promoting and preparing the change. Another factor was the number of partners in a practice, seeing as a greater number of doctors allows for a better distribution of the workload associated with the PDP implementation. To this extent, among smaller practices, the assistance of support staff including secretaries and nurses was mentioned as a facilitating factor.
Along with the factors assisting the implementation of PDPs, participants have mentioned a number of factors hindering its implementation. The authors divided these into external and internal factors as well. Among the external factors hindering the undertaking of the development plans, participants mentioned the associations of the development plans with revalidation processes, seeing as these assessments are at times resented by GPs. Another hindering factor was time constraints, as the compilation of a development plan is time consuming. To this extent, current workload was also mentioned as a hindering factor which is part of the general structure of the practice, placing demands and constraints on the GPs. The compilation and implementation of the PDPs is costly in regards to time, as well as other resources such as secretaries and money. A final factor hindering the implementation is the fact that the PDPs promote intra-practice processes rather than inter-practice processes, thus limiting the GPs communication with colleagues outside their own practice.
Among the internal factors hindering the PDP implementation, participants mentioned the retirement or death of a partner, which caused them to defer the implementation, as well as the general process of change and difficulty in its implementation.
In regards to the implementation of my own personal development plan, I would say that the most significant constraint is workload and time. The PDP requires a shift in thinking that needs to be established throughout my work. Seeing as most days I find myself just trying to keep up with the regular workload, the time-consuming nature of the PDP can be discouraging. Nevertheless, a factor facilitating the PDP implementation is the existence of a change leader, serving as my point of reference whenever I encounter a problem or have a question. In addition, the change facilitator provides necessary information and helps create a schedule and deadlines.
Though the article was extensive, there are other factors affecting PDP implementation not mentioned by the authors, such as gaps in information communication and the risk of conflict with GP education, as not all universities may integrate the PDP into the curriculum or otherwise adapt it to the new requirements (Pitts et al., 1999).
References
Pitts, J., Curtis, A., While, R., & Holloway, I. (1999). 'Practice professional development plans': general practitioners' perspectives on proposed changes in general practice education. The British Journal of General Practice, 49(449), 959.
Ramsay, R., Pitts, J., While, R., Attwood, M., Wood, V., & Curtis, A. (2003). Factors that helped and hindered undertaking practice professional development plans and personal development plans. Education For Primary Care, 14(2), 166-177.
