Continuing Professional Development (CPD) refers to a number of educational activities that health professionals undertake to maintain, develop and enhance the knowledge, skills, professional performance, and relationships they use to provide care for patients and the public. (Institute of Medicine, 2010). It addresses not only the clinical domain, but also additional professional practice competencies (communication, collaborative and professional), it emphasizes self-directed lifelong learning and learning from practice.

The goal of CPD programme is to keep the practitioners competent, compassionate and confident throughout their career and to augment patient care, outcome and patient satisfaction by setting standards for good medical practice. It helps to reassure the patients and public about the care they are receiving from their medical and dental practitioners.

All medical and dental practitioners registered with Nepal Medical Council need to participate in CPD except in certain conditions specifically mentioned by NMC.

A practitioner interested in participating in CPD can keep himself informed of CPD activities conducted by the hospital s/he is working at, local or national professional association or medical colleges and training programmes being organized by different units of Ministry of Health. Interested practitioner will have to take necessary steps (e.g. applying or registering for the CPD activity) to participate in these activities and make a record of successful participation. Once the participation is completed, the participants need to inform NMC through CPD website about such participation and get credit points for it.

1. All the CPD providers have been informed by Nepal Medical Council about the process of CPD organization and registration. The CPD provider institutions will register their activities with NMC and receive approval of Accreditation Unit of NMC CPD Committee.
2. The CPD providers will record the participant details including the NMC registration number while conducting the CPD programme. After the successful completion of the CPD programme, the CPD providers will upload the list of participants along with their NMC registration number.

During each five -year licensing cycle, you must earn a minimum of 100 credit points. If you are a Medical Practitioner then 30 credit points of which must be earned from Mandatory Verifiable CPD section and rest from Professional Verifiable CPD section, however if you are a dental practitioner then you have to earn 40 credit points from Mandatory Verifiable section and rest from Professional verifiable section.

It is because most of the dental practice setups are outside the hospital setting where medical emergency backup many not be available, hence extra mandatory module of 10 credit points “Medical emergencies in dental practice and practice management” is added.

All required CPD credits must be earned during the practitioner’s five-year license renewal cycle. It is not necessary to earn a specified number of CPD credits during each year of the five- year cycle, or during any calendar year, so long as the full CPD requirement is met during the five - year license renewal period.

No. A total of 100 CPD credits must be earned during each five-year license renewal cycle. Practitioners who do not have the necessary credits during a given cycle may apply for a waiver or an inactive status.

The CPD activities have been divided into three sections: a. Mandatory Verifiable CPD; b. Professional Verifiable CPD; and c. Non-Verifiable CPD

Those CPD activities in which all practitioners must participate at least once in five years have been termed Mandatory Verifiable CPD. NMC Board has developed the details of training in these areas. Mandatory Verifiable CPDs have the following characteristics:

1. these have a curriculum (with a definite educational plan) developed CPD board and approved by NMC
2. offered by trainers approved by NMC
3. with mechanisms for quality control and assurance (combined with feedback system)
4. successful participants receive a certificate

1. Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation
2. Professional Ethics
3. Communication Skills
4. Rational Use of Drugs
5. Infection Prevention and Control

1. Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation
2. Professional Ethics
3. Communication Skills
4. Rational Use of Drugs
5. Infection Prevention and Control
6. Medical Emergencies in dental practices
7. Pratice Management in Dentistry.

Nepal Medical Council has prepared the curricula, training materials and programme for training in mandatory areas. It has also trained master trainers who are recognized to provide the training. The usual CPD providers (as mentioned in 5 above) will conduct the training with the help of master trainers trained by NMC. The CPD providers will publicize the information about the venue and dates of the training programme. Interested participants can participate in a site which is convenient to them.

Those CPD activities which are in the areas of individual practitioner\'s interest and are characterized by:

1. Organized by registered and approved CPD providers
2. With a clear statement of educational objectives and activities aimed to achieve the objectives
3. With a mechanism for quality control and assurance (with a provision for feedback system)
4. Successful participants receive a certificate

Those CPD activities which are likely to contribute to professional development but are carried out without any set educational objective, have no quality assurance and control mechanism built in it and do not offer certificates to the successful participants. Such CPD activities will not contribute to credit points from NMC.

CPD Board of Nepal Medical Council has categorized the different CPD activities in the following groups:

1. Category I: Local events
2. Category II: Events abroad
3. Category III: Publication, Editorial and Review
4. Category IV: Distance learning
5. Category V: Additional approved qualifications

Those CPD activities which are organized within the country consisting of:

1. Scientific meetings, seminars, workshops, symposia etc. organized by CPD providers recognized by NMC
2. Approved CPD activities conducted by hospitals, medical colleges, training units of Ministry of Health.

Those CPD activities which are organized within the country consisting of:

1. Scientific meetings, seminars, workshops, symposia etc. organized by CPD providers recognized by the national medical/dental council or similar authority of that country.

1. Authorship of an original article published in a peer reviewed journal
2. Authorship of a book or a book chapter in a medical or dental textbook
3. Review work for a peer reviewed journal
4. Review work of a research proposal for a Institutional Review Committee or Ethical Review Board of Nepal Health Research Council

Participation in a recognized distance learning activity which meets requirements of Professional Verifiable CPD and has a system of self-assessment will be considered under this category.

Participation in formal educational programmes leading to acquisition of degrees, diplomas and fellowships approved by Nepal Medical Council are considered under this category.

A practitioner will be required to renew the license every five years and renewal will depend on a demonstrated record of acquiring 100 credit points over a period of five years. Yearly acquisition of 20 credit points thus looks necessary but one does not have to limit oneself, acquisition of more credit points is permissible.

1. Medical practitioners are required to acquire 30 credit points (10 each) from 3 categories of mandatory verifiable CPD and rest 70 from professional verifiable CPD activities.
2. Dental practitioners are required to acquire 40 credit points (10 each) from 4 categories of mandatory verifiable and rest 60 credit points from professional verifiable CPD activities.

It is because most of the dental practice setups are outside the hospital setting where medical emergency backup many not be available, hence extra mandatory module of 10 credit points "Medical emergencies in dental practice and practice management" is added.

lectures and training should be additional; not a partof regular teaching/learning activitiesconducted in medical colleges

• * Maximum of 40 credit points per cycle as a speaker or trainer; some content and topics will be counted only once for credit calculation by NMC CPD Board
• **Maximum of 10 credit pointsper cycle as chairperson or moderator
• *** Maximum of 20 credits per cycle
• ****Maximumof 15credit points per cycle
• $* Maximum of 15 credit points per cycle
• Credit may be claimed in 15 minute or 0.25 credit increments.

1. Professional societies or associations such as Nepal Medical Association, Nepal Dental Association and similar organizations or associations recognized by NMC
2. Tertiary care hospitals
3. Academic institutions: medical colleges, institute of health and medical sciences, universities and academia
4. Health Training Centers under Ministry of Health and Population
5. Research Councils and Academies: Nepal Health Research Council, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, University Grants Commissions

Any association, society or organization of practitioners licensed by Nepal Medical Council and duly registered with the local administration is considered as a professional society. Only those societies or organizations which have NMC registered members only will be recognized for CPD activities.

1. CPD units should be established within an institution or association recognized by and registered with relevant Government agency. The institution or association should have a valid registration and PAN number.
2. CPD committee should consist of at least three members, one of them should function as a Coordinator.
3. CPD unit must have a designated contact person dedicated to the activities of the unit
4. CPD unit must have adequate physical facilities such as a CPD Unit office room with necessary facilities office equipment
5. CPD -Unit must establish a website.

1. Plan and design CPD activities according to the needs of the target group, staff etc.
2. Apply for and receive approval and credit points from CPD Board of NMC to conduct the activity
3. Submit details of CPD speaker and get approval from CPD Board particularly in case of foreign speakers
4. Publicize the CPD program announcement / publicity with all necessary information as per CPD guideline of NMC in website and within institution.
   1. Maintain official records of CPD participants
   2. Conduct CPD activities as planned
   3. Provide a certificate of participation to CPD participation on successful completion of the program
   4. Submit a list of CPD participants and speakers with their NMC registration number along with the type of CPD activity organized to the NMC CPD board
   5. Evaluate the participants’ feedback about speaker and overall management and submit to CPD Board and file for future reference.

1. Interested agency will have to establish a CPD unit in their institution according to the NMC guidelines.
2. An inspection team from NMC will visit the site and submit the report of inspection to CPD Committee of NMC.
3. NMC EC will recognize the unit on the recommendation of CPD committee.

1. A recognized CPD provider can conduct a CPD activity which will have to be registered with the NMC.
2. CPD provider will have to submit the following details including topic, duration, speakers or facilitators of the programme including their bio-data, details of the programme, methods of assessment of the learning of assessment, fees if applicable, any sponsors and conflict of interest of sponsors if any; to the Accreditation Unit of CPD Board of NMC
3. Accreditation Unit of CPD Committee of NMC will review the programme and assign credit points for the activity
4. CPD Providers will have to submit the list of participants along with their NMC registration number and their valid signatures to NMC after the event is concluded.
5. It is ethical responsibility of providers to only claim CME credits commensurate with their actual participation in any CPD activity. CPD Board will award credits based on the amount of credit claimed by the individual professional rather than awarding the maximum amount of credit designated for that activity. Professionals should claim credit immediately upon completion of the activity. Credit is only given for those sessions, he/she attended if there are parallel session.
6. Events provided by the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries will not be considered for accreditation. All the material must be free of any form of advertising and any form of bias.

You need to keep records in form of certificates of participation both for Mandatory Verifiable CPD and Professional Verifiable CPD programs. In addition, in case Professional Verifiable CPD activities, keep a written record of the name of the program, program organizer, and the nature of the activity, the date of attendance, and the number of credit hours earned and number of hours spent on each type of CPD activity. Records should be maintained for at least one full license renewal cycle after the cycle in which the credits were earned. This will permit the Board to conduct audits of compliance with the CPD requirements at any point during the Five Years following the cycle in which they were earned.

You are not required to send any documents in hard copy. You need to keep the hard copies with you and only upload the activities data through online access to NMC CPD Website. Submission of documents is required only if you are asked to do so for audit purposes or if the Board otherwise asks you to do so for any other reason.

The Board conducts random auditing of CPDs. If there are any misstatements or misrepresentations made in filing your renewal application, CPD board may forward your case for disciplinary action against to NMC.

You will receive a letter instructing you to furnish documents related to CPD activities you’d participated in.

You must submit the related CPD documents within 30 days from the date of the CPD notification letter.

A waiver can be granted under the following conditions:

1. Prolonged illness of the practitioners , and
2. Inaccessibility or unavailability of CPD activities due to work in a remote area
3. Attending a formal degree, diploma or fellowship course or training program
4. Academic and managerial responsibility ( E.g.Practitioners working in key government /educational institutionwhere responsibility is more administrative than clinical and academic e.g; dean of an institution, director of a division of MoH unit, teaching hospitals or tertiary care hospital, chairman, registrar and vice-chair of NMC)

However, the decision to waive the requirements will be discussed in the CPD Board and forwarded to NMC Executive Committee which will take the final decision.

If the Board grants the waiver, the practitioner typically receives an extension of time in which to complete the Board's CPD requirements; generally, a waiver will not exempt the physician from those requirements and they will have to start earning CPD points once their assignment is over and they are back in clinical practice.

No. Credits earned under a waiver may be applied only to the period covered by the waiver.

Practitioners who reactivate or revive their licenses must satisfy the basic five year CPD cycle requirement on the date their license is reactivated or revived (i.e. they must have earned 100credits during the prior five years ). Once you have reactivated or revived your license, you must begin earning CPD credits towards the next renewal.

Kindly contact the following at NMC for clarifications and any issue related to CPD: cpd@nmc.org.np

No, licensed medical and dental practitioners will only have to demonstrate that they had been participating in different CPD programs. They are required participate in a recognized CPD activity and get it recorded in their files maintained for the purpose in the CPD Unit of Nepal Medical Council. They need to maintain the hard copies of their certificates with them and only submit the earned credit points to CPD website of NMC.