You probably know that just reading content on www.vetnurse.co.uk can count towards the 5 hours of undocumented Continuing Professional Development RVNs are allowed to undertake each year. What you may NOT know is that other activities on the site can now count towards the requirement for 45 hours (on average) of documented CPD, without restriction. Best of all, it's free!

To count towards your CPD requirement, your activities on VetNurse must be part of a documented process of appraisal and development. In other words, you must keep a record of your activity and how it has contributed to your professional development.

By default, VetNurse.co.uk keeps a record of your activity on the website, which provides an auditable trail. To view your activity, click My Account (main menu) > View My Profile > View all activity. If no activity is displayed, checked that you have activity logging enabled in the 'Display Options' under 'Edit My Profile'.

Currently, there are three main VetNurse.co.uk activities you can take part in which can count towards your annual CPD requirements:

Participating in forums
If you post a question on VetNurse.co.uk and receive a reply, you may count the time spent posting your question and reading the answer as CPD. You should keep a note of what you learned.

If you post a reply to a question, and needed to research your answer, the time you spend researching and posting your answer also counts as CPD. So, if you can answer the question in your sleep, that doesn't count. But if the question made you think, and you need to check your facts, that does.

To count towards your CPD allowance, your forum posts must concern a subject which can reasonably be argued to advance your knowledge and proficiency as a veterinary nurse (so RCVS-bashing posts won't qualify!)

Publishing content on VetNurse
VetNurse offers a number of additional opportunities to self-publish on the site, and any time spent researching and publishing qualifying content (which can reasonably be argued to advance your knowledge and proficiency as a nurse) can count towards your documented CPD. For example, Practical Nursing Tips (http://www.vetnurse.co.uk/blogs/veterinary-nursing-tips/default.aspx) is a newsfeed in which members can publish clinical tips; the time you spend researching and publishing a tip would qualify.

Documented reading
Additionally, time spent reading the site where you document specifically what you have read and what you have learned can also count towards your documented CPD.

Further information about CPD requirements is available from the RCVS website, click here.