All new graduates now have to participate in the Profesional Development Phase (PDP) scheme that is run by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. I have today recieved my certificate of completion, for me just over 13 months since I graduated.
The PDP scheme is something that I personally struggled with as there was very little explanation of what is actually expected. The online recording website gives you a screen of boxes to put numbers into, and then a place to add notes however I am still not sure what was actually required. When I started I did try to document some of my more interesting cases daily. However as time went on this became more sporadic in every couple of months and as my spare time to do so dwindled I was barely having time to record the numbers of cases that I was seeing.
As I am dyslexic it did cause a struggle as my reflection tends to be talking cases over with my colleagues. So whilst encouraging reflection is a good aim, the current format of the PDP system is not for me.
At the end of PDP it is up to you when you feel you are ready to have it signed off. I struggled here because I tend to try to perfect what I do. With some boxes with 100+ cases recorded and others with 1 or 2 I wonder whether in those areas I am actually achieving the competance to allow me to be signed off or not.
I am not sure whether my PDP experience truly helped me or not. At the end I was asked to write a couple of extra notes for things that were currently missing from my record. I had experience in these things however had just not recorded them. I am not sure if this benefited me, or just reinforced the idea that PDP is a tickbox exercise.
Anyways, I am released from it now, and can focus on continuing to help my patients.
