P258 Attitudes, benefits and barriers to participating in mandatory continuing professional development schemes in paediatricians in ireland

Background A formal mandatory system of continuous professional development (CPD) in the form of Professional Competence Schemes (PCS) was introduced for all doctors working in Ireland in 2011 and who are not enrolled in a postgraduate paediatric training programme. The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) provides general and specialist schemes for Paediatricians working in Ireland. Purpose of study: To explore their attitudes, perceived benefits and barriers to participation in PCS in order to improve their future CPD engagement. Methods All doctors (n=456), Fellows (generally consultants) n=150 (33%), Non-Fellows (generally junior doctors not in training programmes) n=306 (67%), registered in the paediatrics RCPI PCS in 2017/18 were invited to complete an anonymous online survey exploring their attitudes, perceived benefits and barriers in participating in PCS. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Results The survey was completed by 187 paediatricians (41% response rate; 41.7% male, 58.3% female,) Fellows n = 44 (24%), Non Fellows n= 141 (76%). All PCS requirements were met by 91% of Fellows and by 57% of Non Fellows. A further 14.4% were new entrants to the scheme. Majority had positive view on participation in PCS: only 5% reported it as being a bad idea, with those meeting requirements having significantly more positive attitudes than new starters (F=3.76, p≤0.05). The positive impact of CPD was reported predominantly on patient care related skills: patient care (85%), patient safety (81.6%), and teaching (75.6%). The main challenges included difficulty accessing quality CPD activities (32.2%), time to participate in CPD activities (29.9%) and time to record their CPD activities (23.3%). Those who met PCS requirements reported significantly fewer barriers compared to those who did not (F=5.44, p≤0.01), however no differences were observed in terms of perceived benefits of PCS participation. Conclusions and recommendations The findings indicate that while Irish paediatricians value CPD and perceive various benefits from their participation, they also experience various barriers to meeting PCS requirement. This was particularly observed in junior hospital doctors and in those who have recently joined the PCS Nonetheless, all doctors attributed multiple benefits from taking part in PCS, especially in relation to improving patient care. Paediatrics in Ireland view participation in mandatory CPD as positive and beneficial, however they also encounter barriers, possibly preventing them from deriving the full benefits of their CPD engagement. Greater support is required for junior doctors and new entrants.