Introduction
Comment
Primary care dentists' attitudes to continuing professional development formed a major part of the 'Toothousand Project' 1 Survey of General and Community Practitioners in Scotland, the other part investigating workforce issues is the subject of another paper.2 The authors have condensed the results of a very extensive questionnaire into a more accessible format. This particular paper sets out to determine the uptake of CPD in Scotland and whether the current options are those that primary care dentists want, information that until now has been lacking.
The overwhelming majority of Scottish dentists undertake some form of CPD with 72% of GDPs and 85% of CDPs achieving the GDC's requirement of 15 hours. More than a quarter reported undertaking 39 hours or more. 'Hands on', lectures and small group tutorials were the preferred learning styles of the dentists, especially SCPMDE's Section 63 and CDS short courses which are accessible and convenient. Young and women dentists are more likely to favour a more participative style than older male dentists. Whether all this activity is appropriate or effective in leading to improved practice was not addressed by this survey and would requires further investigation. There was a very strong support for professionals complementary to dentistry to be included in CPD.
Postgraduate qualifications are held by over a third of CDPs in Scotland and 16% of GDPs, and are regarded as a method of improving skills rather than career enhancement. If postgraduate qualifications are to be made more popular then incentives to undertake training and a more flexible approach to delivering it are needed. The requirements of practitioners in busy practices as well as those in remote and rural areas must be considered. A flexible modular approach to building up further qualifications is advocated, especially for older practitioners who may find formal training pathways difficult to fit into an existing lifestyle. This would certainly be more inclusive and deserves further consideration as a method of encouraging effective postgraduate development.
The plight of dentists on a career break or working part-time is also highlighted. In order to facilitate their much-needed return to the workforce there needs to be a more flexible method of allowing access to CPD.
This is a very timely paper providing much needed information on the attitudes of the dental workforce in Scotland and should help inform the debate on creating an infrastructure and incentives that will maximise the current workforce.