Life-long learning and continuing professional development (CPD) are the processes by which professionals, such as nurses, develop and improve their practice.
There are many ways to address CPD: formally, by attending courses, study days and workshops or informally, through private study and reflection.
Reading articles in professional journals is a good way of keeping up to date with what is going on in the field of practice, but reflecting on what you have learned is not always easy.
These questions are designed to help you identify what you have learned from studying the article. They will also help you to clarify what you can apply in practice, what you did not understand, and what you need to explore further.
1 Who issues National Minimum Standards for Immunisation Training?
a) Health and Safety Executive
b) NICE
c) Royal College of Nursing
d) Health Protection Agency
2 What does an immunisation programme trainer need to be?
a) Confident, current, with recent NHS experience
b) Confident, current and knowledgeable
c) Confident and knowledgeable with recent NHS experience
d) Recent NHS experience with current knowledge
3 How long is the immunisation basic training course in total?
a) One day
b) Half a day
c) One-and-a-half days
d) Two days
4 What book do practitioners receive prior to attending the course?
a) The Blue Book
b) The Red Book
c) The Green Book
d) The Yellow Book
5 What refresher training is there?
a) Annual training via team meetings
b) A minimum of four conference calls per annum
c) Individual coaching where necessary
d) All of the above
6 Following an error, how long will a 100% audit of records take to be carried out?
a) Two weeks
b) Four weeks
c) Two months
d) Four months
7 What did a recent pilot audit look at?
a) Premises and paperwork
b) Vaccine storage and refrigeration
c) Anaphylaxis equipment
d) Client follow-up
8 Why is it necessary to undertake an audit?
a) To monitor and review competency standards
b) To monitor and review individual performance
c) To monitor and review company contract
d) To monitor and review service level agreements
9 Who does not need to attend initial immunisation training in this company?
a) Nurses who have worked in the NHS in the past three months and have had policy and supervisory experience of immunisations
b) Nurses who have had policy and supervisory experience of immunisations in the NHS
c) Nurses who have worked in the NHS in past three months
d) Nurses who have experience of giving immunisations
10 How many practitioner competency standards are there?
a) 10
b) 12
c) 14
d) 20
Feedback
1. d – Go to the Health Protection Agency website and download a copy of the standards. Ensure you are up to date with your practice. Explore the website for other information relevant to your practice.
2. b – If you were asked to describe how you were confident, current and knowledgeable, how would you go about it? What evidence have you got to support your description?
3. d – This does not include supervised practice.
4. c – Download a copy of the Green Book from the Department of Health website and refresh your knowledge
5. d
6. b
7. a
8. a – The terms ‘auditing’ and ‘clinical governance’ were mentioned in this article. Refresh your knowledge of auditing in OH practice with the article that appeared in the September issue of OH. Explore some of the resources given at the end of that article.
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9. a
10. c
