Continuous Professional Competence  (CPC)

The on-going work in continuous professional competency (cpc) is continuing at pace. similar to other regulated healthcare professions, and congruent with the code of professional conduct and ethics (section 3.2), all phecc registered practitioners will be required to demonstrate evidence of competence to maintain their status on the register.


It is anticipated that this requirement will not place an onerous responsibility on the practitioner. Completion of Patient Care Reports (PCRs), cardiac currency, and completion of all relevant updates are examples of what will be included in the first cycle for re-registration. 

You, the pre-hospital practitioner, will have the opportunity to inform the new and future process for CPC, and as a registered practitioner, you will be invited via email, to complete an on-line questionnaire in this regard. This questionnaire will seek your opinion on a wide-range of CPC-related topics, including associated anecdotal barriers to CPC. You will also have the opportunity to provide some written feedback so you will not be limited in the scope of your response.
 
You are strongly encouraged to participate in this process as this will be the principal mechanism through which you can influence further professionalisation of pre-hospital emergency care.

If you want to have your say please ensure that we have your current email address by sending a request to check/update your email address to info@phecc.ie quoting your name and PIN.

Emergency Medical Technicians and CPC

At the recent RESUS conference in Limerick one session was dedicated as a discussion forum for EMTs. Invaluable information was gleaned from this interactive session. There were EMTs from many organisations present including, voluntary, auxiliary, private companies and members from the Permanent Defence Forces. This forum also allowed participants to ask CPC-related questions and proved to be an extremely beneficial two-way process. 
  Discussions with the Order of Malta, St. John Ambulance Brigade, Civil Defence and the Irish Red Cross have almost concluded. These organisations have developed policies to assist EMTs within their organisations to meet CPC requirements. This mechanism and framework for EMT CPC will be presented to PHECC’s Clinical Care Committee for consideration.

All Recognised Institutions, CPG-approved organisations and of course EMTs, will be contacted regarding upcoming CPC requirements.

Currently PHECC do not allocate any credit units/points to any particular CPC activity. The decision to introduce credits will depend on the final model adopted.

In the meantime, pre-hospital practitioners are encouraged to participate in any relevant CPC programme or activity. It is important that all certificates for attendance at, or participation in, CPC activities are retained by the practitioner for the development of their portfolio. This portfolio may then be used to support the registrants own development plan and may be produced as independent evidence of CPC activity at a later stage.

Organisations who seek approval for credit of proposed CPC activities will be advised accordingly.

If you have any queries or suggestions regarding CPC please email me at cpc@phecc.ie

Thank you for your anticipated support. 
Shane Knox