An employer's perspective - Strategies for effectively supporting CPD (Northern Ireland Ambulance Service)

Jonny Noble is Head of Professional Practice for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS).

My journey into healthcare began in 1989 upon entering student nurse training. Following qualification, I spent several years working within an emergency department. This experience brought me into contact with the ambulance service providing an insight into their vital role within the health and social care system. An opportunity to join the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) in 2000 alongside HCPC registration has subsequently provided rewarding and varied opportunities as a paramedic, ultimately leading to my current role as Head of Professional Practice.

My role is part of the regional clinical team, supporting the continual development of paramedicine and professional development of NIAS’s clinical staff. A key responsibility is to provide clinical and professional advice to registrants, ensuring optimum standards are maintained. To do this, fostering a culture of lifelong learning is absolutely critical. This is only possible by supporting registrants’ continuing professional development (CPD).

CPD assists paramedics to refine their decision-making, improve compliance with guidelines, and adopt best practices that lead to better patient outcomes.

Over recent years the range and scope of paramedic practice has seen dramatic change. This has come alongside a growing recognition that employers have a vital role to play in supporting ambulance clinicians to provide care and undertake complex decisions, often under stressful conditions. CPD for paramedics also faces several major challenges, including time constraints, access to resources, insight and, until recently, limited employer support.

To address these changes and challenges, NIAS has implemented some innovative strategies.

• Time and pressure
  NIAS serves a population of 1.9 million with 46 stations spread across 5 operational areas. Increasing service demands exert a constant pressure on our staff, impacting time that can be spent on learning. To mitigate this, NIAS offers protected time to all clinicians. This can be spent attending regular continuing education days which focus on elements of practice requiring development based upon evidence/clinical data. Recently this has included a series of workshops addressing out of hospital cardiac arrest management.
  
  
• Access to resources
  To improve paramedics’ access to resources NIAS utilises digital platforms (at no cost to the employee) including JRCALC Plus and ParaPass. These applications allow mobile access to national and regional guidelines, convenient learning opportunities including evidence-based discussions, case scenarios and quizzes, and self-assessment with certification.
  
  
• Quality
  As a guiding principle, NIAS has a reflective approach to learning, and effective recording is essentials for this. To assist staff with tracking, NIAS gives paramedics access to ParaFolio, a digital CPD management tool providing evidence aligned to the HCPC standards of proficiency and standards for CPD. ParaFolio links to ParaPass and JRCALC, meaning that paramedics’ learning can be recorded and showcased wherever they are.
  
  
• Insight
  NIAS has found the use of these platforms a valuable resource not only for active learning, but in gathering insight as well. Their data can be used by managers and leaders to gain insight into learning progress across teams, highlighting areas of strength and areas that might need additional attention and improvement.
  
  
• Identifying and taking learning opportunities
  NIAS’s clinical education team is supported by a tier of Paramedic Clinical Support Officers (CSOs) who, as lead practice educators, provide education and clinical supervision for operational colleagues. They provide regular observations of practice and debriefing sessions which capture valuable learning opportunities. Then, in collaboration with Medical, Nursing and other Allied Health Professionals, they organise a variety of learning events, which have been welcomed by registrants. Recent examples have included maternity care, frailty and trauma management.
  
  

Our recommendation to employers is simple: to invest in patients, you must invest in your staff’s CPD. Investing in CPD has not only improved practice at NIAS, but has ensured our teams are well supported and resilient.

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