Free tool
CPD hours calculator
Add each piece of learning you have done, mark whether it was participatory, and see how you stand against the requirement for your profession. Everything happens in your browser: nothing is sent to us, and nothing is stored when you close the tab.
Your CPD
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Participatory
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Individual
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Learning done alone
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How to count CPD hours properly
Count the time you actually spent learning, not the length of the course as advertised. If a three hour module took you ninety minutes because you knew half of it already, ninety minutes is the honest figure, and the honest figure is what stands up if anyone asks.
The distinction that catches people out is participatory learning. The NMC requires at least 20 of the 35 hours to involve interaction with one or more other professionals. Reading and online study on your own are individual hours however valuable they were. The usual and entirely legitimate way to convert individual study into participatory hours is to take what you learned to other people: raise it in clinical supervision, run a fifteen minute teaching session at handover, discuss a case it changed your view on. Record who was there and what changed, and it is participatory.
Keep evidence as you go rather than at the end. A certificate, a reflective note, an email confirming you presented at a team meeting. Revalidation is only stressful for people reconstructing three years from memory in the last fortnight.
Questions
How many CPD hours do nurses need?
Thirty five hours in the three years before renewal, of which at least twenty must be participatory. That is the NMC requirement and it applies to nurses, midwives and nursing associates alike.
What counts as participatory learning?
Learning that involved interaction with at least one other professional: clinical supervision, case discussion, journal club, a conference or study day, a course delivered live, or teaching a session yourself. The interaction is the test, not the format or the cost.
Does e-learning count?
Yes, as individual hours, provided it is relevant to your scope of practice and you can evidence it. Our own courses issue verifiable certificates for exactly that reason. Turn it participatory by discussing it with colleagues and recording that you did.
Do I need to keep the evidence?
Yes. The NMC can ask to see it, and employers often want it at appraisal. Keep certificates, reflective accounts and a note of participatory sessions. A free account here keeps the hours and certificates for our courses permanently, exportable whenever you want them.