CPD REQUIREMENTS

All therapists must acquire 30 Continuing Professional Development Hours (CPDH) within each year before renewing their membership or 60 hours over a two year period.  A maximum of 10 CPDH may be in professional management subjects such as managerial, or ethical subjects.

PURPOSE of CPDs is to reinforce the need for lifelong learning in order to stay current with changing techniques, procedures, processes, and established standards. Qualifying activities must have a clear purpose and objective which will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge relevant to the therapist's field of practice. The therapist is given flexibility in selecting among a broad range of subjects that are intended to strengthen or maintain competency in technical, managerial (business) or ethical fields. Therapists are encouraged to select meaningful activities which will be of benefit in the pursuit of their chosen fields.

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT HOUR is defined as one contact hour of instruction or presentation.

DETERMINATION OF QUALIFYING ACTIVITIES must be made by the member. ISRM does not pre-approve courses or activities. With the broad range of opportunities to earn CPDH, it is up to the therapist to determine whether the activity qualifies under ISRM’s requirements.

CORE FEATURES OF EFFECTIVE CPD

* demonstrates a direct relationship with clinical practice
* involves observation and feedback
* includes peer support
* enable participants to identify the focus of development
* enable therapists to be reflective
* offers an opportunity to work with colleagues, and share professional dialogue and practice
* offers opportunities to receive regular, structured feedback
* offers opportunities for independent self study 

AUDITS can be made for three years after renewal is submitted to ensure compliance with requirements. If selected for audit, you will be contacted to provide necessary documentation.  You will need to provide the name, address and telephone number of a person or organization that can verify the hours you have claimed.  Also provide detailed information such as dates, subjects, duration of programmes, course outlines, registration receipts (if applicable), certificates, and other documentation.

RECORD KEEPING is the responsibility of the licensee. Adequate records must be maintained for a minimum of three years for auditing purposes.

Examples of records required include, but are not limited to:

1. A log showing the type of activity claimed, sponsoring organization, location, duration, instructors or speakers name, and CPDH credits earned. Specific information on each activity is required. Simply stating "attending education activities at such and such a place , " is not acceptable.

2. Attendance verification records in the form of certificates or other documents supporting evidence of attendance. All activities of over an hour should have verification.

On occasion, short activities such as a meeting with a 30 minute speaker may not provide verification such as a certificate. This should be an unlikely exception. The general rule is that members must have sufficient verification for credits claimed.

TEACHING CREDITS for the instructor are twice that of the participants in qualifying courses and seminars. However, it is not intended that repetitive teaching of the same course will earn any credit.

PUBLISHED PAPER, ARTICLE OR BOOK must be a serious effort to qualify. For example, a "news" article in a technical or professional bulletin is not considered a published paper. Although it is recognised that often many more hours are spent in being an author of a publication, only a maximum of 10 CPDH is allowed.

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES Contact with one’s peers at professional meetings is considered one way to stay abreast of current topics, issues, technical developments, ethical situations, and learning opportunities. Two CPDH can be earned for each organization with a maximum of 6 CPDH allowed.

Typical Qualifying Activities

*Completing or attending courses, seminars, instruction, in-house programmes or training which relates to the professional practice
*Obtaining additional qualifications
*Case studies with suggestions and recommendations for future practice
*Attending professional meetings when a topic related to the member’s professional practice is presented as a principal part of the programme
*Teaching a course for the first time, or if substantial time has been spent in updating material if previously taught
*Attending satellite down-link video courses where attendance is verified and material meets requirements
*Computer software instructional courses which relate to the improvement of the member’s business or profession
*Management or ethical courses which relate to the improvement of one’s business or profession
*Correspondence courses and computer on-line courses on topics related to member’s professional practice where lessons are prepared, returned for correction and/or grading and testing at the end of the course is required
*Subscriptions to and reading clinical-related periodicals and/or books
*Enlisting the help of a mentor with regards to verbal consultation or private tuition