Nurse Practitioner CPD Program

The Nurse Practitioner Continuing Professional Development program (NP-CPD) is a structured framework purchased by organisations and delivered to groups of Nurse Practitioner candidates, complementing their masters to develop and assess the clinical skills required for endorsement.

Date

Ongoing

Mode

Online

Format

18-month online program

Registration

Registration 2

The Nurse Practitioner-Continuing Professional Development program (NP-CPD) is a structured program, designed to complement the Nurse Practitioner Masters to prepare NP candidates, and endorsed NPs, to enhance their scope of practice and career prospects. The program includes a detailed syllabus enabling students to undertake self-directed learning, problem solving and develop critical thinking skills in preparation for endorsement as a NP and sets the standard requirements for NP candidates and endorsed NPs.

The Alfred Hospital Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner team developed this program in 2013 and has been used since for the continued professional development of NPs in Emergency within our health service. This program is now available as a licence to organisations or individual candidates through the Alfred Emergency Academic Centre.

The aim of the program is to increase NP services and support working in full scope of practice to meet the diverse community needs of individual health services.

The NP-CPD Program is complementary to the masters, which provides a generalist approach to the NP role, however, does not prepare the candidate for the clinical aspects of emergency specialty. This program provides modular based prescriptive theoretical content and problem-based scenarios to foster clinical expertise. This program is designed to align with the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council/APHRA accreditation standards for endorsement.

The program is designed around the Fast Track model of care in an adult emergency setting and includes:

Fourteen self-directed core online learning modules including a monitored chat function for easy communication with candidates, coordinators and Alfred Health NPs
Complementary practical workshop frameworks for each module
Clinical and theoretical assessments to consolidate learning and prepare for endorsement
Alfred Heath Nurse Practitioner support and mentoring for program coordinators

Core Online Learning Modules

The program is based around fourteen online modules, designed to address the key areas of advanced practice for new NPs. The first module focuses on general principles of advanced practice including NP scope of practice, history-taking models, communication frameworks and supervision and governance structure in the emergency department (ED).  The following modules focus essential areas of NP practice, advanced anatomy & physiology, focused history & clinical examination, ordering & interpretation of investigations and management pathways. They are designed to relate directly to the learning required to apply the NP extensions to practice.

The 14 core learning modules focus on:

1. General principles of advanced practice

2. Pharmacology

3. Integumentary system

4. Radiology

5. Musculoskeletal system

6. Infectious diseases

7. Genitourinary system

8. Neurology

9. Ear, nose & throat

10. Respiratory pathology

11. Gastrointestinal system

12. Haematological system

13. Ophthalmology

14. Paediatric

Practical Workshops

A framework for local health service driven face to face workshops are included for site coordinators with a lesson plan specific to each module.

Assessments

There are clinical and theoretical assessments run by local health services during the program to allow the student to demonstrate their learning and progression to independent practice and in order to identify learning gaps and areas which may need addressing.

The assessment components of the program include the following:

Clinical DOPS (Directly observed procedural skills)
Mini CEX ( Mini clinical evaluation exercise)
In-service nursing education/case presentations
Clinical log
Formative & summative assessments

Organisational Package

The NP CPD program can be offered as a package to organisations so they are able to deliver the program using their own resources. The program licence is contracted for 18 months with all the program inclusions (above) and no restriction on the number of NP candidates who can use the program from your hospital.

Organisational Package Optional Extras:

The following optional extras can be added to customise your package and will be costed separately:

Remote or in-person mentorship & organisational support in establishment of program and for the duration of the candidacy program.
Additional Alfred Health run teaching sessions (virtual or in person)
Option of candidate honorary placement at Alfred ED in a supernumerary role subject to availability
Site visits by an Alfred Health NP at the beginning or during the program as required
Program extensions past 18 months can be negotiated on a pro-rata basis

Program Guide

Claire Lobb

Claire has more than 20 years of emergency nursing experience. She has been working at The Alfred Hospital Emergency & Trauma Centre since 2014 and became endorsed as a Nurse Practitioner in 2015.
She has been overseeing the N.P. candidate program for the past five years, providing mentorship and support to trainees as they work towards endorsement. Claire is now involved in the expansion and redevelopment of the program, licensing it to external EDs throughout Victoria interstate and supporting them as they establish their own professional development program for both NP candidates and endorsed NPs. Claire has a passion for education, providing teaching for medical and nursing staff. She has been involved with the Emergency Medicine course since early 2023 developing content and facilitating workshops for the face-to-face training day.

Nurse Practitioner CPD Program

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Claire Lobb