#GPFUQ 118. Will a
Personal Development Plan keep making you a better doctor? Probably not. PDPs
were designed to reinforce adult type self-directed learning where the learner
identifies their own educational needs, formulates a plan to address those
needs, reflects on the learning achieved or confirmed, and identifies further
needs. But PDPs are being used differently now. Annual PDPs are a requirement
for NHS appraisal and GMC revalidation. What went wrong? The process of the
learner identifying ‘important learning needs’ has disappeared and been replaced
with a bureaucracy of documentation. Arguably a means to an end has become an
end in itself.
The main aim of a PDP is to
‘identify and address your learning needs’
1.
The General Medical Council says: PDP will help you identify and address your
needs and those of others. It will also help employers identify, coordinate and
resource the learning and development needs for all staff.
2.
The Royal College of GPs says: PDP consists of a number of ‘SMART’ (Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) objectives, although some may, of necessity, be less measurable and time-bound than others.
The PDP must contain the
following key elements for each objective:
- a statement of the development need
- an explanation of how the development need will be addressed (the action to be taken and the resources required); objectives are more likely to be achieved if consideration is given to several ways of meeting them
- the date by which the objective will be achieved
- the intended outcome(s) from the objective.
3.
The British Medical Association says: PDP should contain a list of personal
objectives with an indication of the period of time in which items should be
completed and how completion should be recognised. The PDP represents the main
developmental output for the doctor.
4.
BMJ Learning says: PDP is a demonstration of
your personal responsibility for continuous improvement in your professional
roles
5.
The NHS revalidation Support Team says: PDP is an agreement, between the
appraisee and appraiser, on the learning and development needs of the
appraisee, identified at the appraisal interview, with an outcome-based
learning plan for the subsequent year.
6
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) says: PDP is 'a structured and supported
process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning,
performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and
career development'.
7.
Wikipedia says: PDP is the process of creating an action plan based on
awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal
development within the context of a career, education, relationship
or for self-improvement.
A review of the history of
PDPs in the UK doesn’t reveal any evidence base
(in terms any better outcome such as learning and career development) for
writing a PDP once a year. Personal Learning plans (PLP) developed in
Higher Education in the 1970’s from the idea of having learning pathways agreed
between the learner and the institution. In the 1980s PLPs were used to develop
key skills in undergraduates and then spread to encourage more flexibility and
autonomy in learning. The Higher education institutions used them to integrate
new curriculum demands like communication, problem solving, teamwork and
personal development. They asked their learners to identify ways in which they
could develop these skills, identify their needs and find ways to develop and
demonstrate them. Around the same
time the phrase `the reflective practitioner' was coined by Schon (1983) and
the notion of reflection in professional life became a key feature in
professional development. PLPs are consistent with new 1980’s educational
approaches like `deep' learning’ and ‘adult learning’. In the 1990s, work-based
appraisal systems spread along with the need to demonstrate continuing
professional development to maintain membership of professional bodies like
accounting and banking. Personal learning targets set by the learner were used
as evidence in portfolio-based learning and assessment.
In medicine in
response to concerns about the quality assurance of doctors performance, the
GMC set a target that all doctors should undergo a process of regular
appraisal, and be involved in a process of periodic revalidation. In 2002 Personal
Development Plans PDPs became part of compulsory annual NHS appraisals and
would be a requirement for GMC revalidation. After ten years of delays GMC revalidation
finally started in 2012.
This completed the
transformation of Personal Learning Plans from a short-term, learner-centred,
reflective tool based on identified learning needs to the Personal Development
Plan that is a never-ending cycle of mandatory, directed documentation used to address
any appraisal-driven whim. How can this make better doctors?
