Ensuring competence as your career progresses

This informal CPD article Ensuring competence as your career progresses was provided by Dr Jacqueline Haughton, Medical Director at Healthcare Skills International, an approved education centre delivering a range of externally validated competence-based qualifications to the medical profession and healthcare industry.

Ensuring competence as your career progresses

We all know that no healthcare system is perfect. We also know that funding for medical education and professional development is not always a priority. Even before the pandemic, junior doctors’ education was becoming increasingly difficult as dedicated time (trainer and trainee) and operating theatre resources were in short supply, and the integrity of clinical teams declined.

Now, fast forward to post-pandemic healthcare. For doctors, gaining the competencies to work effectively and efficiently in their many roles has become even harder. As burn-out, poor morale and disaffection bite, vacancies at Consultant level are likely to rise, especially in shortage specialties. What is required is the support and investment to be sure that an under-prepared cohort is not promoted too soon to senior levels of care and responsibility.

While the need to demonstrate clinical competence is universally recognised by healthcare organisations and summatively assessed by medical Royal Colleges, for many clinicians who specialise, this is only the beginning: the complexities of emerging technology mean that practicing as you were originally taught is no longer an option. High-quality short courses are often available to bring you up to speed with the technical aspects of innovative treatments.

Being well prepared for senior clinical roles, however, is about more than clinical competence alone. It includes being able to train junior staff well, knowing how to lead your clinical team and understanding why people act the way they do. Being able to bring about useful change and getting the best from the people you supervise are also key skills as you progress, but where can you find the time to learn in healthcare in 2023?

Effective and efficient skills – learning doesn’t have to take long with concentration, motivation and brain-friendly delivery. A high-quality short course is an efficient way for busy people to up-skill. But, how do you know whether the short course you are choosing will ‘deliver’?

The answer is by always going for a regulated qualification – be sure to check that the course you select has been accredited by a recognised awarding body. That way you know the course is externally audited and comes under the auspices of the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education). The education credits gained will also be recognised by many universities, professional bodies and other stakeholders in the UK and beyond, so you may be able to use your new qualifications to top up a previous degree to ‘Masters’ level.

It is also worth looking for courses run by established organisations – people tend to hear of good courses by word-of-mouth, and the continuing success of long-running training courses speaks for itself. When thinking about courses to advance your career, it is also important to get the timing right: think ahead and start using what you learn on a course straight away – it’s the best way to consolidate new knowledge and demonstrate readiness for promotion. If you are a junior trainee, taking an accredited course in clinical education early is worthwhile, as it improves the quality of the training you provide. It also helps you to present well in other professional roles as well as at interview. In addition, it boosts your CV with a teaching qualification which is important when applying for more senior or academic roles.

Equally, understanding how to lead a team and applying learned principles as a junior doctor makes you stand out early in your career and helps you to navigate the complexities of a hierarchical profession. Short courses like these help to build your confidence and are objective evidence of your insight into the future needs of the service. They also speak to your readiness for greater responsibility and seniority. 

We hope this article was helpful. For more information from Healthcare Skills International, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, you can go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.