CPD five years on: what New Zealand MRTs think about mandatory CPD

Abstract

This article reports the results of a survey investigating the attitudes of New Zealand Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) to continuing professional development (CPD) following the implementation of a mandatory CPD policy. This survey replicated, and is compared with, a study conducted in 2001 that was administered to elicit attitudes to CPD before the mandate was introduced. The results of this survey were published in Shadows: The New Zealand Journal of Medical Radiation Technology in 2004.

Questionnaires were distributed to the 1200 MRTs registered in the New Zealand Institute of Medical Radiation Technology CPD programme.

Since the initial survey there are four main areas where quantitative results indicate a change of some significance. The number of MRTs recording their CPD has increased; the amount of support from their clinical managers and departments has increased; there is a large increase in the number of MRTs considering that CPD should be mandatory; and that MRT perceptions regarding the outcome of CPD have decreased. Several factors do not appear to have changed substantially. These include ongoing concerns relating to the nature of employment, time and costs, and access issues, Overall there has been an increase in the mean total score, although this is only significant for medical imaging.