IBMS Council member comments on HCPC statement

In June 2019, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) set out a joint statement detailing the benefits of becoming a reflective practitioner. This document explains the commitment and thought process behind reflection for healthcare practitioners.

A reflective practitioner benefits service users by:

• Nurturing improvement in practice and services
• Supporting professionals in multi-disciplinary teamwork
• Assuring the public that health and care professionals are regularly seeking to improve

IBMS Council Member Andy Usher commented,

“For over 25 years the IBMS has promoted CPD as a process of lifelong learning, which enables members to meet the prerequisite knowledge and skill levels that relate to their evolving scope of practice, thereby maintaining competence as a practitioner in biomedical science.   

Active engagement in formal CPD signals a commitment by professionals and their professional bodies that they are ‘keeping up to date’ with the requirements of their practice with learning experiences that allow professional development and maintenance of professional standards. 

Key to maintaining a high standard of CPD is a critical and evaluative approach to learning activities that assesses whether or not they met expectations of the learner and how this may be improved in the future. The statement reinforces the importance of reflective practice and that time should be taken to aid development and deepen professional commitment.”

For the full statement, see the HCPC website. The IBMS also covered this statement online in an earlier news story.